


Her From Below

by SunnyJedi



Category: Aquaman (2018), DCU, DCU (Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Atlantian Rey, Cross Over, Evil Snoke, Gen, Mentor Ben, Soft boy Ben
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-09-29 12:51:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17203745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunnyJedi/pseuds/SunnyJedi
Summary: The Skywalker Academy for Gift Children is a school for gifted youths from around the world.Head Master Skywalker works to get his nephew Ben more passionate about the work the school does for their fellow force users. As the men make a trek across the country to the desert town of Jakku to pick up a hopeful student they're in more than they bargain for as they encounter a young girl who isn't as human as they'd thought.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To enjoy this story you do not need to have seen Aquaman, but later down the line as the story progresses you may find a spoiler or two for the movie. I do recommend seeing the film! It was really good and for those of you who have seen it I hope you can enjoy this story. Please let me know what you think!

**Chapter 1**

Unkar Plutt new his charge was special. Ever since she was a baby she showed signs of being different from others, but when she was two years old he locked her in the upstairs bathroom so he could enjoy a game of poker with his buddies without having to worry about her wandering around and making a mess or bothering his friends.

It was two hours later when one of Unkar’s friends noticed water dripping from a crack in the ceiling that he forced himself up the stairs as fast as he could practically ripping the bathroom door from it’s hinges. He was shocked to find it water flowing up towards the ceiling then raining down a very happy toddler playing in the water that had gathered on the floor.

Unkar Plutt new that if someone discovered the child’s ability she would be pulled away by some government agency or something of the sort so he kept her locked away. He would give her only enough food so she had the energy to pull whatever water she could from the air and never more than that, which left her in a constant state of exhaustion. They managed to remain under the radar for eight years before someone showed up asking about a gifted.

“No.” The door slammed shut in the face of a tall blonde woman, who looked irked to be so ignored.

Master Skywalker had sent her here to find a force sensitive he’d felt. She’d monitored the house for a week before approaching watching as a bulbous man and a fit younger man come and go as they pleased. One of them had to be the gifted she was looking for. Skywalker said he sensed a strong presence so she assumed it was the young man, he looked healthy and strong but his father refused to let her speak with either of them.

Christine Phasma returned every day for two weeks but the man always refused and even when she approached the younger one he flat out told her he wasn’t interested in what she was selling. If she had been the same woman she was before Master Skywalker had come to her she would have burnt his business down in a fit for control. Instead she smoothed her pencil skirt in front of her and called to report to Luke that she wasn’t going to get anywhere and she was moving on to the next perspective student. She knew he would be disappointed in her lack of results but this one was out of her hands.

Two years had passed and Plutt let himself forgot about the woman and her persistence that his son should be attending a school for gifted children. The thought made him laugh, his son gifted? His son was hardly going to graduate high school let alone attend some snobby private school. He woke up early and tore out of the gravel driveway heading into town in his beat-up Toyota Corolla, if he hadn’t been so focused on his dealings he would have noticed the 67’ Ford pickup on the side of the road.

The old Ford headed down Plutt’s driveway the gravel crunching beneath the tires. Two men got out and headed towards the door.

“I don’t understand why we’re here, usually when people aren’t interested you let it go” It was the taller one that spoke with the tone of a teenager. He had long black hair and angled featured paired with dark eyes much the opposite of the older man beside him.

“This is different. The young man is powerful he could pose a danger to himself and the people around him.” The gray bearded man spoke with a soft level tone and his face reflected the same calm.

The tall one felt a spark of something from behind the house and stepped off. “I am going to walk around back” He didn’t wait for his superior’s response before walking away. The old man rolled his eyes and muttered something about fickle teenagers as he progressed to the front door of the old beat up house. Not finding a bell he gave the door a few stiff knocks.

The tall young man climbed over the fence that caged in the junk yard out back. He couldn’t help but begin wandering through the piles of old cars and filth when he felt something. Surely there wouldn’t be any wildlife here, it was already over 80 degrees and the sun was barely into the sky. He was proven wrong when he came across a long glass building he recognized easily as a green house. He let his curiosity get the better of him and he wandered inside. He was greeted by the sight and smell of dozens of marijuana plants, suddenly the lack of concern at sending his son away to a private school across the country made sense. Uncle Luke would be furious when he found that the force was being used for such illegal activity.

He noticed something colorful at the back of the room and decided he wanted to know what it was, as he approached he was surprised to find a little pot bursting with a rainbow of tulips even more to his surprise laying on the ground covered in dirt and grime was a little girl.

He was startled, why would a child be laying out here in the dirt. She looked unwell, sickly thin and the color of her skin was grossly pale for being in the middle of a desert. He bent down beside her deciding he needed to confirm she was alive. As he placed a finger on her neck she moved quickly sitting up rubbing at her eyes.

“It was only a second! I promise I’m working” She spoke quickly pushing herself onto her feet finally looking up at him. “who are you?”

“My name is Ben Solo, are you the one who grows all these plants?” Her eyes widened and she stepped back and away from him. Unkar had told her time and time again what someone would do to her if they discovered what she could do.

“No. no.” She muttered repeatedly backing away from him into the glass panel behind her. Ben had never seen so much fear in someone he decided his best move would be to take a step back from her.

“No one is here to hurt you, we just want to talk” He gave her the softest smile he could manage it brightened when he saw her stop flinching away from him. “My uncle is here with me, he runs a school for people who have gifts like you do we’ve been trying to find you for a while” Ben crouched down making himself even height with her. “We’re special too” Ben waved his hand over the ground and before their eyes a blue tulip began sprouting from the dirt. He looked back up at her and realized she had come closer on her hands and knee’s inspecting the flower. That was when Ben noticed the marks across her arms and face, the discoloration of bruises fresh and healing.

“Will you talk with us?” Ben kept his fury in check, he’d seen others like him come into the academy from broken homes but the lack of care this child was suffering was a whole new level of neglect.

“Um… okay I guess” She nodded sitting back down on her butt in the dirt.

“What is your name youngling?” it was that moment he realized he didn’t know.

“Rey” That was all?

“your last name?” He didn’t want to pressure her to hard but she was so peculiar to him, this whole situation was strange. Then again this was his first time going out to find a student, he was nearly seventeen and Luke thought this mission would be good for him.

“Just Rey” She said it as if it were as normal as sand in the desert.

“well just Rey, let’s go find my uncle” Ben stood and reached for her hand, but she stood up on her own giving him a wary eye. _‘A least she knows better than to trust strangers’_ Ben thought walking to the door of the green house, as he exited he noticed Rey freezing behind him.

“I’m not allowed to leave” Her eyes flickered to the line of the door as if something would happen if she stepped through it.

“Why can’t you leave the greenhouse?” Rey shook her head quickly and took a step away from the door. She held her wrist and Ben noticed a thick black band with a little box on it and a blinking red light, the sight made him feel sick. She was a prisoner here. “Okay, I’ll be right back” and he ran calling to his uncle through his thoughts.

Instead of hopping back over the fence he opened the gate. He rounded the house and saw his uncle standing beside the truck look to him.

“What is it Ben?” Luke had a rare tone of frustration and Ben suspected he hadn’t gotten far with the son.

“I found her” Her? There had never been any indication of a woman in the home. Luke couldn’t help but follow his nephew back through the fence to the greenhouse. Inside hiding amongst some plants was a little girl. She looked at Luke with the same fear she’d had for Ben, but between the two Ben was a familiar presence so she went to him slowly not taking her eyes off the new stranger.

Luke took a few moments to look around and found himself filled with disgust. This is what they were using her power for? Drugs! And by the looks of it whatever money they procured from her talents didn’t make it back to her she was dirty and covered in bruises. Luke was good at controlling his rage but at the moment seeing how the child was being taken advantage of made him furious and he wanted the men doing this to her to suffer as she had.

“Hello little one, I am Luke and this is my nephew Ben. I have been looking for you for some time now.” He gave her a warm smile and she looked up at him.

“Why would you look for me?” As far as Rey knew no one was even aware she existed, how was this man looking for her.

“You grow these plants?” It was a question Rey only nodded to answer. “see I have a gift as well. I can find others who have gifts like we do. I run a school so people like us can learn and be safe.” Luke looked around the greenhouse again before crouching down to her height as Ben had before. “I want you to come with us.”

“I’m not allowed to leave” She looked back to the ground and away from the strangers before her.

“She has a shock collar on her wrist” Ben spat the words with such a fury that Rey cowered away from him, wrapping her fingers around the bracelet on her wrist in an attempt to hide it.

“Is that true child?” Luke was still crouched down to her height he held his hand out for her. Rey’s mouth twisted as she chewed on the inside of her cheek but she held her wrist out for him to inspect the device. He took her wrist into his callused hands and gently twisted it around so he could see the angles of the device.

“What do you think you’re doing in here?” A menacing voice called from the door. Rey pulled herself away but Luke didn’t let go of her wrist instead he wrapped her up in his arms and picked her up. She may not have known Luke but she felt more comfortable with him rather than Unkar Plutt’s wrath. “Put that girl down she has work to do!” Nothing about the man lightened as he entered the greenhouse. Rey hid her face in the old mans neck in an attempt to hide, Luke put a hand on the back of her head in an attempt to shield her from the brute.

“We tried being civil with you Mr. Plutt but I’m afraid after seeing these living conditions Rey cannot be left in your care any longer.” Luke spoke with a deadly calmness. “You can let her come with us of your own accord or we will take less pleasant measures to secure her safety.” Ben snapped a concerned look to his uncle, he never heard the man make a threat before in his life.

“Junior!” The fat man called and in minutes his son appeared as his side a metal bat and a crow bar in hand. The boy handed the crowbar to his father who stepped forward swatting it into his hand. “I don’t like your tone.”

“As I said this can be peaceful or you will leave me with no choice…” Luke trailed off his gaze unwavering. Unkar showed no signs of backing down so Luke acted without further provocation and waved his hand and Unkar Plutt fell to the ground unconscious.

“Master Luke are you breaking the rules?” Ben snickered looking down at the fallen man his son rushing to his aid.

“Don’t start Ben. Come on” They made to leave.

“Wait!” Rey wiggled and squirmed until Luke was forced to put her down.

“What is it child?” Luke asked but she ran off to her corner of the greenhouse. Luke gave Ben a confused look and Ben just shrugged. In a minute Rey was running back a small box in her hands.

“I can’t leave my music box” She explained out of breath clutching the small blue box to her chest. Luke hummed in understanding.  A moment later Rey collapsed letting out a cry in pain.

“She isn’t going anywhere.” It was the son holding little device connected to a ring of keys. For the first time Ben seemed to notice that this young man looked far better taken care of than Rey. He was wearing clean clothes with designer labels, and fresh white Nike’s.

“Turn that off there’s no need for anyone to get hurt” Luke seemed to recognize that the young man was panicking and acting irrationally. Rey on her hands and knees the box lying beside her on the ground.

“What did you do to him?” The young man kept the black button in his hand. “Bring him back” He commanded.

“He’s only unconscious he’ll wake up in a few hours unharmed” But the boy pressed the button again and Rey was on the ground convulsing. Ben reached down to comfort her but Luke warned him “If you touch her you’ll get just as much of a shock as she is” Ben knew his uncle was right but it hurt him to see her collapsing under the pain. Luke sighed and without even a blink Unkar’s son was in a heap on the ground beside him.

“Why didn’t you do that sooner?” Ben snapped as he snatched the key ring from the unconscious boy figuring out how to turn it off. Luke was cradling a limp Rey as Ben found the tiny key next to the trigger.  They released Rey form her shackles and Ben picked up the small music box off the ground and they left.

Ben drove them to a hotel in Phoenix where they would stay for the night. No one gave Ben or Luke a second glance upon carrying the unconscious child.

“How could someone do that?” Ben was still furious.

“It’s hard for those unlike us to see us as equals. Those men saw her as a tool not a person.” Ben didn’t understand how his uncle was keeping such a steady head. “I am going to go out and find her something appropriate to wear for our trip home, keep an eye on her.” Did his uncle really expect anything less?

Ben sat in the quiet room rolling the music box around in his hands inspecting it. It was covered in different shades of blue glass. The colors made waves on the front and fish on the sides. He wasn’t sure if it was an invasion of privacy or not but his curiosity got the better of him and he opened the little box. Inside was a little ballerina laying down in the cavity. The whole box was about the size of his palm though even he would admit his hands were larger than that of an average man. The ballerina was only about three inches tall it was made from glass like the box except it was a blush pink. He picked up the little dancer and rolled it in his hand, it looked like it had been broken and glued back together more than once, he’d have to see if one of the geology students could fix it. He placed the ballerina in the hole inside the music box and gave her a gentle twist as she twirled gracefully back into place a soft melody floated among the room. Rey stirred in the bed and Ben set the music box on the desk and went to sit beside her. Her eyes opened slowly and then all at once she was attacking him, well if you could call it an attack.

“Hey! Calm down, you’re okay” He shouted over the sound of her futile slaps to his body. He managed to get his arm around her waist and he swept her up so her back was laying across his lap. “you’re okay” He said more calmly trying to sooth her. Her attacks stopped as she looked at him through slit untrusting eyes. She reached one of her little hands up and put it on his cheek gently before drawing it back and giving him a swift slap across his face. She took Ben’s shock as a chance to get away from him. She crouched barely peaking over the other bed in the room to keep watch on him.

Ben had been slapped a time or two but never had it been by a little girl. He stared at her in surprise. “You’ve got guts kid. You’re okay, my uncle went to find you some clothes.” Ben didn’t really know what to do to make her more comfortable so he decided to lay back on the bed placing his hands behind his head relaxing.

“What is wrong with my clothes?” She sounded offended and Ben couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled through his lips. Rey didn’t move from behind the bed still keeping her eyes on him. Her clothes were covered in dirt and smelled vaguely of the substance she’d been growing not to mention the holes and wear on them.

“We’re just going to get you something… cleaner” Yes cleaner seemed like the appropriate word. “would you like to take a bath?” She popped back looking at him in surprise now.

“A shower? Could I?” She sounded excited but she didn’t move to come closer to him. Her eyes were big and innocent and Ben couldn’t help but wonder when the last time she had bathed. Ben noticed as she grew excited her eyes glowed a golden color, he’d never seen eyes colored quite like those before.

“I suppose a shower is fine, but it’s going to take a long time to get your hair clean” She was at his side in a blink practically buzzing with joy. He couldn’t help but smile, her excitement was contagious. He led her into the bathroom and she stopped staring at the bathtub with wide eyes. “you’ve never had a bath?” Sure, she hadn’t looked like she bathed often but baths were the most pleasant part of getting clean as a child. “You need to take a bath” He decided and got on his knees to start the bath water. He had her check the temperature and when it was warm enough he put in the stopper letting it fill.

“but I can’t swim” She looked boarder line terror stricken and excited. “Junior talked about the pool at school but I’ve never been in a pool. Is it safe?” Ben was horrified, she didn’t know how a bath even worked.

“You’ll be okay, I’ll be here to make sure you don’t get hurt.” He was knocked back onto his butt and she tackled him into a hug.

“You’ll keep me safe?” It was hardly a question. He wrapped one of his arms around her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you” Ben was surprised. He’d encountered dozens of younglings at the Academy but most of them avoided him. He had a reputation for his tempter and most of the padawans warned each other to stay away from him, but here was this girl holding onto him like he was a teddy bear. “Alright come on you have to take your clothes off so you can get clean.” That didn’t warrant the reaction he thought instead she kept her hold on him and refused. “You can’t take a bath in your clothes, you’ll never get clean” He coaxed as gently as he could.

“Junior made me wear my clothes” Oh this stemmed back to her older brother. Although Ben had to admit he was glad to hear the boy kept her decent.

“Well it’s okay, I’ll be your brother now okay. I’m going to take care of you but that means you have to get clean.” Rey finally let him go and looked at him still seeming unsure. “You’ll like the bath, trust me little one” And deciding she would, she pulled her shirt off. It took all of Ben’s will not to gasp as what he saw, the scars and bruises covering her. Her rib cage looked disfigured like she’d broken a rib and it healed in the wrong place. He looked back up in her eyes and saw the self-conscious look on her face. “Back at the Academy you’ll have a room of your own and you can shower whenever you want.” She smiled at him and kept undressing. “And we have lots of great teachers, we call them either Master or professor. We will have someone teach you how to swim.” Her eyes sparkled at the thought.

“I’ve always wanted to go to school! Junior used to tell me about it when he cut the plants.” Ben was startled.

“You’ve never been to school?” It made sense she wasn’t allowed to leave that greenhouse. “Can you read Rey?” Ben took her hand and helped her into the tub. She just stood there looking down at the water. “Sit down”

“Oh” And she did the water coming up to her chest. Ben decided that was enough water and he shut off the faucet. “Junior taught me how to read and a little maths, but Unkar said I wasn’t smart enough to go to school” Maybe that other kid wasn’t as bad as he had thought, if he’d took some of his time to teach Rey to read.

“I’m sure that’s not true Rey, your dad just wanted to keep you locked up“ Ben pulled a glass off the counter behind him and poured some water of Rey’s head covering her eyes, what came out was nearly black. A look of disgust crossed his features, not because she was dirty but because had been so neglected.

“Plutt isn’t my father, well not really” Her eyes scrunched shut as he dumped more water over her head. “He just fosters me” That bothered him even more, didn’t the people in the agency consider where they had put her or check on her?

“Well you don’t have to worry about him anymore” Ben stood up and grabbed the little soaps from the counter and a wash cloth. “You’re going to have to shower after this bath, I should’ve had you shower first” He was more thinking out loud to himself than anything. Rey swished the water around the tub making waves and giggling. Ben sat on the toilet as he watched her play in the water.

“Do you grow plants too? are there others?” She twisted in the tub and laid on her stomach resting her chin in her hands.

“oh yes, growing plants is just one little piece of the force.” Her nose twisted in confusion. “The force is what we call our gifts. Everyone has the force but not everyone can use it like we can and even those of us who can use it are all different” She was captivated with every word he said so he kept explaining. “You and I can grow plants, but some people can move rocks or sand. I know someone who can create diamonds and other stones.” He chuckled as she gasped in awe.

“Can you do anything else?” Rey sat up and fished around for the wash cloth, gently beginning to wipe away some of the dirt that was still clinging to her.

“We’re not supposed to use our talents outside of school but…” Without any further indication a bubble of water floated out of the tub and burst over her head, raining down on her. Rey let out a shriek of laughter falling back words in the tub. Ben jumped up to help her but she pushed herself up wiping her eyes.

“You can move the water too!” He sat back down beside the tub a look of confusion meeting his eyes.

“Can you make the water move Rey?” He asked mystified, she nodded looking down into the tub looking ashamed.

“It’s how I make the plants grow” She explained. “There’s water in the air and Unkar made me pull it out so the plants could drink it. I accidentally made it rain in the bathroom when I was little that was when he made me stay outside” Oh so she was ashamed. The fat man had made her feel like she had done something wrong, when she had probably just lost control of her gift for the first time. “There isn’t a lot of water in the air though so I would stay up all night when it wasn’t so hot that made it easier sometimes” And here this child didn’t look more than six years old, had never been to school but was understanding a science far more advanced than he ever had at her age. He was both impressed and furious.

“Did he ever give you any water?” Ben asked swallowing hard preparing himself for whatever she might say.

“Unkar said water is dangerous, that if I had to much someone would get hurt” His anger spiked again, she was being forced into slave labor and that fat bastard was convincing her she was dangerous! All while he reaped the benefits of her hard work, it was no wonder she was so tiny, this poor child had to of been starved and dehydrated.

The rest of her bath was spent making the water move, but not with the force. Ben noticed she seemed to scared to use her powers on the water itself. Ben turned the shower on pulling the drain on the tub allowing the now black murky water to escape. “Can you wash your hair while I get you one of my shirts to wear?”

“Will you come back?” Her gold eyes darkened eyes peaking around the shower curtain nearly breaking his heart.

“Of course” He said smiling at her. “It will only take me a minute and I’ll be right here if you need me” Rey nodded and ducked back into the shower. Ben stepped out of the bathroom leaving the door open just in case. He pulled out one of his plain black t-shirts and sat at the edge of one of the beds for a minute. He thought over everything she had told him so far and found that it took some practiced breathing to keep his anger under control, he wouldn’t admit it but he was glad his uncle had taught him some breathing exercises. After collecting himself he went back to the bathroom only to hear her humming the tune he’d heard come from the music box. She did end up needing his help to clean her hair and Ben decided to brush the conditioner into her hair to help them later on. He found that as soon as the knots were gone Rey liked it when he brushed her hair. Her hair was long and brown the water made it look much darker than it was, Ben imagined in the sunshine it might even look red now that it was clean. By the time she was ready to get out of the shower he was soaked from head to toe, Rey giggled that he’d had a shower now too and he couldn’t help but smile at her. How was a child so tortured so inexplicably happy? Ben wrapped her in a towel and used another one to ruffle her hair until it stopped dripping. He refused to let her put her dirty clothes back on and instead tossed her the shirt he’d pulled from his duffel bag. It fit her like a dress.

She went back out and sat on the bed while he wiped the water from the floor, the poor people downstairs were probably getting a shower of their own. When he re-entered the main room she was looking at him like she had a question.

“What is it Rey?” He wished she would be more comfortable with him and after a few minutes of hesitation she finally spoke up.

“Could I have some water? Please?” Of course, why hadn’t he thought of that before. He went back to the bathroom and filled up a glass with water as cold as the faucet would allow and took it back to her. She marveled at the little glass of water and sipped it sparingly. “Oh thank you Ben!” It was the first time she had said his name.

“You can have as much water as you’d like” Her eyes flood, shining with unshed tears. “I told you Rey we’re going to take care of you” She wiped her eyes and took a few big drinks of the water. Watching her savor it made Ben realize how lucky he was to have his family, even when they weren’t around. “Do you want to watch TV” Of course it was another thing she hadn’t experienced before, so he grabbed the remote and laid in the other bed. Turning it on he flicked through the channels gaging what might capture her interest, it ended up being the travel channel. There was a special on tropical beaches and Rey was enamored with it, it displayed beaches of all varieties with sands of different colors and Rey kept asking where each one was Ben couldn’t identify them all so he’d pulled out his phone and took to looking them up and telling her facts about the different countries. After a few minutes Rey set her water on the night stand and rolled of the bed so she could look at Ben’s phone too. Ben scooched to the center of the bed and Rey laid down next to him.

“I didn’t know there was so much water in the whole galaxy! Have you ever been to a beach Ben?” In truth, he’d never really thought about it. Of course he had! His family owned a house on the ocean, heck his Uncles school was located next to one of the big great lakes of the world! After a few moments of thought he tapped away at his phone.

“This one is my favorite.” She was captivated as he showed her the sanded shore of lake Michigan. “When we get to school, I’ll take you here. There are dozens of smaller lakes around too I can show you.” She looked up at him her big gold eyes glowing with happiness.

“Where is the school?” She didn’t sound nervous or scared anymore as they talked about the school. Ben rolled to the far side of the bed and went to his bag. He pulled out a small book and pamphlet before laying back down next to her.

“It’s in the northern part of the country, a state called Michigan.” Rey nodded along as he spoke. “this is the school” He founded out a picture on the front of the brochure. It looked like an ancient castle. The building was huge, the ivy growing up the side made it seem less imposing and the walkway to the doors was filled with color trees. He opened the brochure showing her more pictures. “It’s located on a giant lake called Lake Michigan” Rey gasped as she saw pictures of big sand hills and miles of water. Ben set the brochure down and flipped through the catalog he’d pulled out. “Here” He said finally opening to a page covered with pictures of gardens. “This is one of the gardens, it’s more for show than lessons and it’s open to any student that wants to enjoy it. You can go visit these flowers Rey, and you won’t have to water them” Rey ran finger across the picture.

“I get to see this” her eyes were welling with tears again as she looked up at him in disbelief.

“Rey you are going to live here, and we have greenhouse gardens even inside pools for the winter months.” She was shaking trying to hold in her sobs. “Are you okay?” This was probably too overwhelming for her it had been a long day after all.

She curled against him and buried herself into his chest. Ben didn’t know what to do, if he should hug her or just let her cry. “Thank you” The dam had broken and her sobs erupted. “thank you, Ben, but I have nothing to give you. There’s no way I can pay you for all your kindness” He couldn’t help it, he pulled her even closer to him to comfort her. He’d never encountered a child so physically or mentally broken before.

“Rey, all Luke wants is to give you a chance to grow up safely. You don’t have to pay anything back” He whispered to her, but she was too far lost into her tears to stop now.

  “You don’t understand. I cause so much trouble and I… There’s nothing I can do to help you. I don’t have anything to give” He couldn’t understand half of what she was saying so he settled for resting his chin on top of her head and humming the tune from her music box. It seemed to help her calm down a little.

Luke Skywalker returned to the hotel room and stopped at the entrance staring at his nephew encompassing a crying little girl, humming to her and running his hand through her loose drying hair. He knew it would be good for Ben to get away from the academy for a few days, but he hadn’t expected such a change to occur so fast. Maybe this child was more gifted than he’d given her credit for, snuggled up to the bad boy of Skywalker Academy. Luke knew Ben’s reputation and it wasn’t good. Ben Solo was known for bringing woman back into his room and kicking them out before morning, starting fights and finishing them. Somewhere through the teasing of his childhood Ben had grown to be an ass. Luke thought teaching Ben the ways of running the Academy could help him straighten himself out and mature but he’d never expected all his work with Ben to lead them both here. He’d been training Ben for two years and while he showed signs of being able to handle the students he had no drive to change his personal life, but Luke could see now that it was all about to change.

“I picked up dinner” He said finally, Ben didn’t break from his position it was Rey who pulled away to turn to Luke look meek and smaller than ever. “Nothing special just some burgers and fries and some chicken nuggets for you kid. I wasn’t sure what you’d like but most of the younglings like chicken nuggets.” Luke placed the bags on the desk in the room. Rey and Ben both sat up but neither one moving away from the other. Luke noticed that Rey was clean and chuckled when he realized Ben was still wet. He placed the bag of food on the bed in front of them and it was Ben who pulled it out and gave Rey a box of nuggets and fries. Rey inspected the contents smelling it and giving one of the nuggets a tiny lick, before taking deciding to take a bite. The look on her face made both Ben and Luke laugh, she was in love.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten” She held the little nugget carefully with both of her hands and looked up to Luke, her eyes were still red from crying but they expressed nothing but gratitude.

“What did they feed you Rey?” It was Ben who asked what they were both thinking.

“um… Toffee?” She didn’t sound very sure of herself. “It was white and spongy, always cold, and sometimes vitamins” She ate her nuggets slowly making sure to enjoy every bite she took.

“Tofu?” Luke asked and she nodded exuberantly.

“That’s it!” She decided she would try one of the gold sticks in the other box taking to it the same way she had the nuggets, smelling it and giving a small lick before taking a bite. “What are these?” She ate another one, then another.

“Fries” Was all Luke said. Ben figured Luke must have eaten on his way back from wherever he picked up Rey’s new outfit because he just sat there watching Rey experience food as if she’d touched God. “We have to be up early, our flight leaves at 7. Can you wake up early Rey?” She swallowed the nugget she was eating and nodded.

“Mornings are the best time to work, I usually wake up as early as possible so I can sleep through the hot part of the day” And that Unkar Plutt told her she wasn’t smart enough to go to school Ben thought bitterly.

Rey paused her eating and her face gave that scrunched look she had when she wanted to ask a question. “Rey if you want to talk you can, you don’t need permission” Ben flashed her a reassuring smile before taking another bite out of his burger.

“Mister Luke” she couldn’t remember his last name and Plutt always told her it was rude to call adults by their first name. It was a lesson he’d burned into her after she had addressed one of his clients incorrectly. “What if I’m not good enough to be at your school?” She wouldn’t look at him while she asked afraid he would yell at her and tell her how stupid she was, that was a normal occurrence when she would ask Plutt questions, it was why she didn’t like to ask anything.

“You have nothing to worry about Rey. We’ll get you evaluated and make sure you’re in appropriate classes, the school is on a summer break right now so we’ll get you caught up for the next school year” Rey didn’t seem convinced.

“I don’t have anything to offer you Mister Luke” Now Luke understood. Rey was used to working for the things she was given she didn’t understand that what she had wasn’t supposed to be earned through hard labor.

“That is fine Rey, because I never accept things from my students I only ask that they work hard in their studies and use their gifts to help people.” Luke thought his words would comfort Rey but her eyes filled with tears again, though she told herself she wouldn’t cry anymore.

“You must be disappointed in me already then. I was doing bad work for Unkar Plutt, I knew it was bad” Rey was determined not to let her tears fall. “I should go to jail not school”

“Rey you only did what you had to do to stay alive, even if the police had showed up at that junk yard you wouldn’t have been arrested.” Luke gave pause when she didn’t seem convinced. “How about we make a deal a fresh start from here on out, if you ever do anything like that again there will be a punishment but now you have the choice whether you want to learn with us or go back to Plutt. It’s your decision” Luke’s voice was stern. It was obvious to him that she wasn’t going to respond to kindness just yet, it made her feel like she was taking advantage of them even though that was far from the truth.

“What!” It was Ben letting out a cry in outrage. “Uncle Luke you can’t be serious, she can’t go back there” Luke only raised his hand to silence his nephew.

“It has to be her choice to come with us or not.” With that they both looked down at Rey with very different expressions. Ben looked worried while Luke looked stern.

“I would like to see your gardens” She spoke softly. “And maybe learn to swim” She looked at Luke with pleading eyes now asking for his permission. He softened and smiled at her.

“We would be lucky to have you Rey.” And with that the conversation was over. The TV played in the background as they finished their meals and Luke made them all go to bed early.

Luke and Ben planned to sleep in bed together so Rey would have a bed to herself. She didn’t seem to understand how the blankets worked as she’d never slept in a real bed before. The air conditioning provided a chill that Rey wasn’t used to, she woke up shivering around midnight. She didn’t know what to do, so she sat up and took a few more drinks of her water leaving some for the morning just in case they didn’t want to give her more. Rey tried to bury herself under the blankets again but she couldn’t get comfortable, as weird as it may seem she missed her old blanket and her spot in the dirt next to her pot of tulips. Rey sniffled and wiped her eyes sitting back up in the bed.

“Rey” A horse whisper from the other bed made her freeze. “Are you okay?” Ben made to get out of bed as smoothly as he could as not to disturb his uncle.

She sniffled again but muttered a quiet. “yeah” Ben knew she wasn’t. He sat on the bed beside her and ran a hand through her slightly tangled hair.

“What is it little one?” It was the softest she’d heard his voice yet and suspected he was just tired.

“It’s cold” sniffle. “I just can’t fall sleep” Rey didn’t like complaining but she felt safe with Ben, he’d promised to take care of her after all and she was desperate to believe he meant it.

 He understood her discomfort, he didn’t care much for the hotel bed or the artificial cool air either. He pulled her blankets over himself and laid down pulling her against him.

“Ben” Her sniffling had finally subsided. “I’m sorry I’m such a crybaby” He chuckled a little.

“You’re not a cry baby Rey, not at all” He brushed his fingers through her hair and held her to his chest until he felt her breathing steady it wasn’t long after that he fell asleep too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Luke and Ben let Rey sleep a little longer as they packed their things and got ready for the day of traveling ahead of them. Ben woke Rey the same way he’d put her to sleep, by running his hand through her hair.

“It’s time to wake up” That soft voice again, Rey was coming to like the soft Ben. She didn’t say anything as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She went to get her glass of water and was surprised when she was it was full again. She picked it up and looked to Ben gratefully taking a drink.

“Alright young one, let’s hope these clothes fit because I just guessed” Luke pulled a small yellow sun dress out of the bag followed by an olive-green cardigan and a little pack of underwear. The second bag was bigger, Luke pulled out a pair of flip flops that matched the cardigan and a beautiful backpack that was green with little cartoon flowers in a dozen different colors. Rey’s eyes lit up, the left-over hints of sleep vanishing.

“Oh thank you Mister Luke!” She tackled him with a hug much in the same way she had Ben. Luke just laughed and told her to go get dressed, so she did.

“Will you be her mentor?” Luke was looking at Ben with a serious look on his face but a smile in his eyes.

“What? Why? You know my history as a mentor all my students end up quitting!” It was true, Ben had mentored 8 younglings so far, 6 of them went to new teachers and 2 left the school completely.

“Just for the summer, she seems quite taken with you and I think you with her.” That cheeky Skywalker grin was coming out now and Ben blushed crimson. “Help her prepare for her classes this coming fall, show her the ropes of the Academy.” Ben nodded with a groan, this felt like a terrible idea. Sure, he liked this kid but now she’d be following him around everywhere! He did like her though, she’s got spunk and an electric energy that oozes off her.

Rey came out of the bathroom the dress fit perfectly but the cardigan was a little big, though she insisted that made it even more comfortable. Rey put her music box in her new backpack and threw in her old clothes when Ben and Luke weren’t looking. They were in a cab headed towards the airport before the click hit 5:30 am, Luke had explained the truck they used the day before had been borrowed from a local friend. They made their way through the security line, but Rey was stopped and asked for her ID, which she didn’t have. The security guard was frightening to her and she stepped back straight into Luke. Luke looked the man in the eye and in a weird tone said, “You don’t need her ID, she’s clear” and the man repeated. “I don’t need her ID she’s clear” He wrote something on her boarding pass and they headed to the metal detectors.

As they walked through the airport Rey couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at the mass amount of people, some were running with suitcases others were in electric carts, there were even people sitting with their backs against the wall. There were so many Rey looked around trying to see everyone. She felt someone take her hand and she looked up pulling back, oh it was just Ben.

“There are a lot of people here, I don’t want you to get lost” She nodded up at him and smiled. He really was taking care of her. He let her walk at her own pace and didn’t hurry her along when she got distracted by a shop window. Ben would offer to let her go inside but Rey refused every time. Finally, Ben took the lead and pulled her into a coffee shop. Rey left him in line so she could look at the chest of baked goods. She thought they were beautiful.

“Pick one” Ben said simply. “the lemon cake is my favorite” 

“They’re all so pretty, but I don’t know if I would like them” Rey didn’t want to waste food, she knew that even if she didn’t like it she would eat it anyway.

“Rey it’s okay, you’re going to be trying so many new things. Let this be the first step in your adventure” Well when he said it like that Rey couldn’t argue so she pointed out a red and white pastry. She didn’t know what raspberry’s or cheesecake was but it was the prettiest confection in the case. Ben laughed at her logic and ordered her pastry, his cake and coffee and something called a hot chocolate. Rey didn’t know what that was and it wasn’t until Ben put it in her hands that she asked him.

“You’ll just have to try it and see if you like it, but be careful it is hot it might burn your tongue.” The warning wasn’t really necessary, Rey could feel the heat through the cup and the protective sleeve around it. Rey sniffed the drink through the little slit on the lid, it smelled sweet and comforting she thought. She put her mouth on the lid and took a little sip, hissing as she burned the inside of her mouth, but she could taste it. It was creamy and sweet and if Rey didn’t know better she would have thought she died right there.

“Wow” She said looking up at Ben, who laughed at her wide eyes. “It’s so good! What is it called again?”

“It’s hot chocolate, remind me later and I’ll introduce you to chocolate milk. I think you’re going to have quite the sweet tooth” Ben laughed again, Rey liked his laugh it made her laugh too. Rey had decided that Ben was safe, she was nervous about going to school and being away from him but she was still eager to learn everything they could teach her.

They took their drinks and pastries to the gate, Luke was sitting in a row of seats and smiled as they approached. Rey was nearly skipping, Luke was happy to know she decided to come on her own.

“Mister Luke have you ever had hot chocolate? I think it’s the best thing in the whole world!” Luke was a little concerned that she wouldn’t fit in with the other students. Her lack of experience with the world and people left her sounding far younger than he was used too, but it was wonderful to see all her first experiences. She was excited about everything, now that she’d made the decision to stay with them she was going to dive head first into everything they did even if she didn’t really understand what it was they’d be doing. When Luke told her they were flying to Grand Rapids she thought that was one of his gifts, but he assured her it would be in a plane or sky car as he explained it. He could tell she was a little nervous about flying but her excitement overpowered her fears.

Rey pulled her pastry out of the little bag and stared at in awe. She’d never seen food so colorful, she was used to eating cold white tofu. She smelled it and sighed in delight, it was like heaven! Finally, she took a bite, and she moaned as she enjoyed the tart raspberry jam and the sweet cheesecake topping.  Rey ate the rest of her Danish slow so she could enjoy it and by the time she finished her hot chocolate was cool enough to drink. They sat in silence until their plane began boarding. The woman at the gate called first class and Mister Luke said that was them so they their way to the gate Luke handing over the tickets for the three of them. As they entered the plane Luke told her she was sitting in seat 2A so she found her seat quickly, Ben took the seat next to her and Luke took the aisle seat on the other side. As Rey looked out the window of the plane she began to get nervous. She’d never flown in a plane before, what if it was scary? Ben must have noticed the look on her face because without saying anything he took her hand in his and held it. When she looked at him he was flicking through the channels on the little monitor on the back of the seat in front of him a hint of a smile on his face, Rey smiled to and held his hand back turning to look back out the window, but not letting go of his hand. As the plane took off Rey crouched in her seat, eyes closed tight, Ben gave her hand a soft squeeze and she looked up at him.

“It’s okay, just wait until we’re in the air and you can see everything down below, you’ll love that” He smiled at Rey and she smiled back relaxing a little more. She trusted Ben, he wouldn’t hurt her after all. As the pressure from take of lifted Rey leaned over to look out the window and gasped at what she saw. The city was beautiful up here and so was the desert. Rey stared out the window until they flew above the clouds then she turned her attention to her own monitor. What should she do there were lots of choices from TV shows, to movies, even a variety of games. It was too much and she was feeling a little overwhelmed. Ben reached over and flicked through a couple options and stopped at a movie called Tangled. He handed her a pair of headphones the airline had supplied and plugged them in.

“you’ll like this movie Rey, Rapunzel is just like you” He tapped her nose and she giggled.

“Okay, thanks Ben” She said as always with that glowing smile she had.

Ben was right, Rey loved the movie! Rapunzel was stuck in a tower and just like Rey she had no way to leave until a handsome man came to her and broke her out and took her home. Rey liked that Rapunzel was so fiery and bubbly, and she had tears in her eyes when Rapunzel admitted she was scared to see the lanterns. Rey understood that too, it made her wonder what life held for her next now that she was out of her tower.

When the movie ended Rey turned to Ben with little tears still in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. He was watching some movie with a red robot, oh no it had a man in it. It looked very confusing. Ben looked over to her after a minute and pulled his headphones off.

“What did you think?” He saw her puffy eyes and was a little nervous that maybe he’d made the wrong choice.

“It was amazing!” She shouted, realizing she was talking a bit too loud her cheeks turned red. “I want hair as long as Rapunzel’s, she’s so beautiful! She made a prince out of a thief! It’s incredible, he saved her and she saved him that’s how it should be I think” Rey never had much experience with relationships, in fact all her relationships were pretty bad, but she still had hope that someone out there could love her.

“Would you like to watch another princess movie? There’s one that I think you might find even more beautiful than Rapunzel” Rey was nodding quickly. “Okay, this one is called Cinderella” He flicked through her screen and selected the 2015 Cinderella. Once she was settled in he returned to his movie.

Rey watched as Cinderella’s mother died and then as the step family moved in how her father had died, it put more tears in her eyes. She watched as the step family took advantage of her and abused her verbally, Rey found she could relate to Cinderella too. She watched as she road through the forest and met a handsome man who turned out to be a prince. She watched as the prince argued to be able to marry who he wants for love, but his father wouldn’t listen. “oh no!” She muttered as the step mother refused to let her go to the ball. Then the fairy godmother appeared and made everything okay, better than okay she made everything perfect! Rey’s eyes shined with wonder as Cinderella was transformed into a princess, her mouth dropped open in awe and she leaned closer to the screen. Ben couldn’t help but notice her fascination, it made him smile. Watching her discover the world would be a treat, she appreciated everything and took everything in like it was the most incredible thing she’d ever seen.  As Cinderella danced with the prince Ben noted how tears built up in her eyes, he hadn’t expected such a passionate reaction but he couldn’t look away from her. When the dancing scene ended Rey turned to Ben and spoke so quietly he had to bend down so he could hear her.

“I want to learn to dance like that” She stopped and thought for a moment. “I want to be a dancer like the one in my music box”

“You want to be a ballerina?” A glazed dreamy look appeared in her eyes as she thought about dancing so gracefully. “We have ballet classes at the academy, I’m sure Kaydel would teach you”

Her dazed expression broke into a blinding grin. “Do you really think I could do it?” Her eyes shined with such a brilliance that he couldn’t think of a single thing she couldn’t do.

“Of course, as long as you work hard you can do anything you put your mind too” She leaned as far as her seat belt would allow and gave him the best hug she could over the arm rest between them.

“You’re the best Ben” That surprised him, no one had ever thought he was the best at anything besides maybe being a royal screw up. Ben decided in that moment maybe being her mentor wouldn’t be so bad.

The plane landed and they collected their bags from under the seat and the overhead bin and made their way into the airport. Luke directed them out to passenger pick up where they found a black sedan with a tall blonde woman leaning against it. As soon as she saw Luke or well it was probably Ben she waved at them casually. She opened the trunk of the car and the boys put their bags in the back Ben held his hand out for Rey’s bag but she shook her head. She didn’t want her music box out of her sight, plus it could get broken back there. Rey heard the blonde woman and Luke talking.

“That is the gifted? I never saw a girl at the house I thought for sure it was the young man.” The blonde spoke with a curiosity.

“She was confined to a greenhouse in the back of the junk yard.” The blonde woman gasped then looked down at Rey with sad eyes.

“Forgive me Master Skywalker, I should have done a better job” She bowed her head to him but he just put a hand on her shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have known either but Ben went wandering in the back for something, I think he could sense all the plants” The woman nodded seeming to understand, then she turned to Rey and bent down to her.

“Hello child my name is Christine Phasma. I was a student of Luke’s now I work for him. I am so sorry I didn’t find you. I was at the house for nearly three weeks, I just didn’t know you were there” Rey was surprised to hear that someone had looked for her before Luke and Ben came. “Can I give you a hug?” Rey smiled at her and opened her arms for the woman- Christine. They shared a gentle embrace and Christine whispered her apology again.

“It’s okay, I wasn’t supposed to be found” Rey whispered back to her enjoying the company.

“Now let’s head back to the Academy, the drive isn’t too bad” Christine said pulling away and standing back up. She opened the passenger back seat door and motioned for Rey to hop in, so she did. Then moved over so Ben could sit beside her. Master Skywalker sat up front while Christine moved back around to the driver side. Rey wrapped her arms around her new back pack and rest her eyes for a minute. She hadn’t realized she was so tired.

They weren’t even off the airport property when Ben felt a weight against his arm, looking over he realized Rey had fallen asleep clutching her backpack to her chest. Ben gently moved his arm and lowered Rey in to his lap so her head was resting on his thigh and as he ran his fingers through her hair. He was coming to enjoy this time with her, and he had been right as the shine shined through the window Rey’s rich brown hair reflected just a fraction of a red tint.

Christine Phasma has known Ben Solo for years, so when she looked in the back seat and saw a little girl sleeping in his lap and him combing through her hair gently she was surprised to say the least, and when she noticed the soft smile in his eyes she realized that Ben Solo wasn’t the same man who left their campus the week before, no this man was a different one. Phasma couldn’t help but wonder how more time with this child would change him.

Rey woke up as they got off the highway. Her head was resting on something warm, she pulled her hand to her face to rub her eyes and as she looked up she saw Ben leaned back in the seat, mouth open fast asleep. She decided she wasn’t ready to get up yet so she closed her eyes again and enjoyed the warmth he was sharing. Rey felt Ben stir and knew he must have woken up, but she was too comfortable to move. It wasn’t until he started running his hand through her hair that she opened her eyes, she twisted and looked up at him. The look in his eyes was so soft and kind Rey didn’t quite know what to make of it, but in that moment, she was sure she could trust him completely.

“We’re here Rey” Luke called from the front seat and she shot up immediately to look out the window. The drive was long and surrounded by a forest. Rey gasped.

“I didn’t know there was this much green in the whole universe” She whispered. Ben looked to her eyes screaming of hope, hope he could be able to show her so many things, maybe even the world.

As they rounded a corner the school came into view, many students were outside enjoying the sunshine. Ben noticed Rey lean back, so he ran a hand up her back.

“You have nothing to worry about Rey” She wanted to believe that but her track record with new people (present company aside) wasn’t very good. Rey felt relief as they pulled around the side of the school.

“The girl’s dormitories are on this side, we’ll take your belongings in but it will take a couple hours for us to have your room prepared” It was Christine speaking, she had so much confidence all Rey could do was nod her head.

“In the meantime, Ben will give you a tour and make sure you get some lunch, even though it’s a little late” Luke gave her a wink and immediately her anxiety fluttered away and she smiled at him.

“Thank you, all of you so much. This is all so much I can’t thank you enough” Rey felt liked a broken record as the words spilled from her mouth, but she was truly grateful and she wanted to make sure they all knew it.

“Rey, knowing how much you appreciate this opportunity is all the thanks we need” Luke gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded. She understood what he was saying but she knew she would thank him for the rest of her life, this would be a debt she could never pay off. The car parked and they all got out. Rey pulled her back pack around her arms as Ben came over to her.

“What would you like to see first?” Ben took her hand and led her up the steps to the building. Rey had to admit she was intimidated by the tall structure. She swallowed hard as they entered the side door. They entered by a staircase one leading up and one leading down. There weren’t any students here, Rey found that odd, but as they went through a second set of doors into the hall Rey could hear the hustle and bustle.

“Maybe somewhere quiet?” Ben gave her hand a soft squeeze, a reassurance that she was okay.

“The library then, you’ll love it there Rey.” He started leading her down the hall towards all the noise and she hesitated. “It’s okay Rey, believe it or not most of the students aren’t even here, so if you can get used to these kids it’ll be easier for you come fall.” Rey nodded, she knew he was right so she followed him keeping herself on high alert.

They entered the commons area of the building and there were dozens of students chatting and shouting, she swore she saw one playing with a ball of fire, and much to Rey’s relief they paid her no mind in fact most of the glances in their direction were only on Ben. Some of the students look nervous and fearful, others glared at him, but he didn’t seem fazed at all and if it didn’t bother him Rey wouldn’t let it bother her. Ben led here up a grand staircase that Rey wanted stare at until she could see every carved detail but Ben gave her no time to do that. The stairs led to another long corridor but at the top was a set of double doors with intricate carvings just like the staircase and Ben led her to them.

“This is the library” Ben said as he opened the door for her. Rey’s jaw dropped as she stepped into a library that must have been from some kind of fairytale. Books lined from floor to ceiling so high she was sure you’d need a ladder to reach them. Rey wanted to read them all. Ben let out a small chuckle as he saw her awed reaction. There were tall shelves that created aisles and aisles, Rey could just see the far wall through the shelves a giant window. She stepped towards it wanting to look outside. She looked back up at Ben for a second her eyes still wide and jaw still slack he motioned for her to go ahead so she did. Ben followed behind her until a voice called his name.

“Ben Solo! It’s been so long can you still read?” A tiny woman appeared around a book shelf walking towards him, Rey already out of sight.

“Hi Maz” Ben sounded Nervous? That seemed like a first, how in heavens could a tiny old woman make Ben so nervous.

“Where have you been? It’s been ages since you’ve stepped foot in my library, why come now?” Ben could tell that she was upset with him.

“I was out with Luke Maz, we were picking up a new student” Ben let out a sigh.

“You picked up a new student?” She sounded skeptical, but then Rey came bounding between the book shelves.

“Ben! Ben!” Her voice was louder than one should be in a library. “You have to see outside, it’s beautiful!” Ben had forgot the library over looked a student seating area and one of the gardens. Maz was in shock when the little girl took Ben’s hand and pulled him towards the windows and more so surprised when Ben let her. Maz followed the two watching this strange dynamic.

“Ben could we go there next please?” Rey pointed outside to the garden that was in full bloom looking up at Ben with eyes filled with wonder. Ben squatted down to her height.

“I have more to show you inside Rey, why don’t we see the gardens last I know you’ll want to spend hours there” Rey nodded understanding that Ben was right, she wouldn’t want to leave the garden until she saw all the flowers. “Rey this is Maz the librarian” He motioned over to the small woman, who to Rey didn’t seem so small in fact they were about the same height. Rey switched from her bubbly self to being guarded and nervous.

“It is nice to meet you child” She held a hand out for Rey which Rey took slowly shaking her hand. Plutt had taught her the importance of curtesy she had refused the hands of one of his clients once and later that day broken her wrist for it.

“I like your library, could I comeback and read sometime?” She sounded nothing like the child who minutes ago had pulled Ben Solo across the library to see the garden. Maz could see the traces of abuse not necessarily on her skin but in her eyes.

“My child you will always be welcome here, but let me teach you a few things okay?” Ben knew that Maz would be gentle with Rey, she had a way of knowing things about people whether it was part of her gift or just a human talent. Rey nodded slowing unsure, lessons in the past were punishments and while she knew school would be different she was still hesitant. “First there is no running in the library, with all the tall shelves it would be easy to run into someone. Second the library is a place to study and read so it’s whisper only” Rey nodded and Ben was impressed with how Maz was explaining the rules and without blaming Rey for breaking them. “Next when you want to check out a book you bring them to me at my desk and I scan them out. You can check up to three books out for a week at a time, if you need them longer just come in and let me know. The most important rule, if you need help getting a book ask, some of our books are heavy and hard to get down from her upper shelves, never hurt yourself to get a book. The last rule if you pull a book out and decide you don’t want it please put it back in the right place, if you can’t remember where it goes put it in the drop box up front”

“Oh yes Ma’am! Thank you for letting me come to your library, it’s so beautiful! I want to read everything!” The bubbly Rey was back, but in whisper form. Somehow the whispering did nothing to subdue her enthusiasm. Maz let out a laugh.

“Thank you, child, if I may what is your name?” Maz asked curious about this tiny fire ball.

“I’m Rey” And that she was, Maz thought, a Rey of pure sunshine blessing the earth with her light.

“Well Rey, welcome to Skywalker Academy I look forward to getting to know you better” Ben could tell that Maz was taken with Rey much in the same way he was. There was just something about her that charmed people.

“Come on Rey we have to finish our tour, I can show you the Ballet studio next?” That stole Rey’s attention from all the books and she nodded taking his hand once again.

Maz watched the pair leave the library, she knew instantly that this girl would bring change she’d already brought out a difference in Ben Solo.

Ben led Rey down the corridor past several door and then paused turning back to Rey.

“We have to be quiet okay?” Rey nodded looking giddy.

Ben pushed open the door slowly and sure enough there were three girls inside practicing a routine, Rey noticed them before she noticed the walls and walls of mirrors. The girls leaped into the air and it was like they were floating before touching back down into identical turns, Rey gasped at their precision.

“At Barre, cool down girl. Very good today!” A blonde woman Rey hadn’t even noticed was walking over, her hair was done up in two tight buns on the side of her head Rey had never seen a style like that. “Ben Solo, here to harass my students again?” She crossed her arms and stepped in between Ben and where the students were stretching. Her face was stone cold.

“Not today Connix, I have a student here.” He motioned to Rey and the woman Ben had called Connix softened immediately.

“Oh hello! I’m Kaydel, I teach a couple classes here but this is my Ballet studio!” Her voice sweetened as she talked to Rey and her expression was warm and open. Rey liked her.

“Hello I’m Rey, I would like to be a ballerina someday” Rey took her eyes off Kaydel and admired the girls stretching. Kaybel turned back to Ben.

“What is her gift? Will she fit in with my classes?” Rey wasn’t sure quite what she meant but didn’t pay much mind instead she went to approach the beautiful girls at the barre.

“Water, we don’t know but and honestly I don’t know how well she’ll fit but she came from an abusive home, one that used her gift for financial benefit but not hers” Kaydel had never seen Ben talk so affectionately about someone. “She’s a bit skittish with people, but I think she’ll learn fast and I know she’s a hard worker, she won’t disappoint you there.” Kaydel Sighed and bit her lip.

“I don’t know Ben, I don’t like getting students hopes up” Kaydel rejected many students from her class since she took over the Ballet courses. Many children dream of becoming a ballerina but as soon as Connix saw signs that they didn’t have what it took she would be honest with them and push them along to something better suited for them.

“Please give her a chance Kay, no ever has and she deserves to at least be able to try” They heard a small round of applause and turn to look. They found Rey mimicking the Ballerina’s stretching, and she as doing quite well. They showed her different stretches and she would do her best to be just like them.

“I guess it can’t hurt to give her some one on one lessons” Kaydel decided watching her stretch with her best ballerina’s and holding her own with them. “Rey!” She called and Rey stopped immediately looking guilty. She left the barre and approached Kaydel warily.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt, it just looked like fun” As she apologized Rey’s eyes met the floor.

“Don’t worry about that, can I ask you a few questions?” Kaydel’s voice was soft and kind, Rey looked up to her and nodded. Kaydel dropped to a sitting position on the floor. “Where did you learn to stretch like that?”

“Oh I was just watching” That surprised Kay, most students had to be taught forms over and over before they got them right and Rey had just learned from watching for a few minutes? That would be incredible. “I also used to stretch and pretend I was a ballerina. I have a music box that came from my parents and inside is a ballerina.” Kay nodded. This dream of hers stemmed from a little music box.,

“Can you do anything else?” Rey nodded.

“Junior, my foster father’s real son brought me a book on ballet once. I wasn’t allowed to eat very often but when I had the extra energy I would practice what I saw in the book” Kaydel realized the depth of her abuse or at least some of it. She hadn’t been allowed to eat, who could do that to a child? Rey took a few steps away.

“May I take off these shoes?” Rey looked down to her olive flip flops and Kaydel nodded with a smile. Yes flip flips would be near impossible to dance in. Rey placed her shoes delicately near Bens feet and she removed her floral back pack sat it with just as much caution on her shoes. Rey then returned to the floor, she looked in thought for a moment before deciding which move she should do first. Rey kicked her leg up and used the moment to twirl herself around bringing her leg to the knee of the leg that was supporting her, she repeated the kick and turn motion over and over going on pointe as she twirled, her arms in a graceful loop in front of her. As she stopped twirling he extended her leg high into the air and leaned forward one arm stretched down and forward the other mimicking the angle of her raised leg. Rey quickly dropped the position as she remembered she was wearing a dress now and not the pants she was used too. Kaydel clapped as did the other dancers as Rey flattened her dress against her thighs, nervously.

“That was quite incredible for someone with no training. I think you might do well in one of my classes but I’d like to give you some private lessons to get you up to speed. Is that alright?” Rey’s eyes shined with excitement changing from a radiant gold to a glowing a bright blue and she nodded to Kaydel. Ben hadn’t seen her eyes turn blue like that before. It held an earily similar glow but he couldn’t remember where he’d seen it before.

“Oh yes ma’am, thank you!” Ben thought he saw tears in her eyes. “I will be the hardest working student you have” Kaydel glanced over at Ben and was surprised, he was glowing with pride.

“It’s good to have you back Ben” She whispered to him, his head snapped to her and upon seeing the compassion in her eyes he just nodded.

“Alright Rey pull your shoes back on we have a lot more to see, and I still need to feed you.” Ben declared picking up Rey’s backpack with the same caution that set had set it down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

                Ben showed Rey the rest of the classrooms on the second floor though most of it was for students who specialized in some kind of telekinesis or could control the air element. Ben assured her that other than her ballet lessons and library visits she wouldn’t have much to do on the second floor. Ben explained that the third floor was mostly geology and fire students or any student that fit into that routine. They headed back down to the first floor where he assured her she’d spend most of her time, growers and water students had this floor, and best of all the cafeteria was right off the commons area where they had started the tour. Ben led her through the line and handed her a tray.

“You can have whatever you want” With that he turned and walked to the different stations to see what they were offering today. Rey was in awe of everything, there were so many options most of them were things she hadn’t even heard of. She was beginning to feel anxious and overwhelmed, she took a step back right into someone.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” She said turning to see who she’d run into. It was a beautiful dark-haired man with black wavy hair and eyes the same color as hot chocolate.

“No worries little one, first day?” His voice was light and kind, but Rey was still unsure about him, she only nodded in response.

“Poe are you harassing my new Padawan?” Ben appeared behind her giving the man a look of amusement.

“Me? Never!” Poe said in mock offence. “Does your Padawan have a name, she seems rather shy?” Rey decided if Ben like him she could trust him, at least a little.

“Rey” She tried to sound confident but all she heard was the voice of a little girl.

“Well Rey it is wonderful to meet you” He held out his hand and Rey slowly offered her own, but instead of a hand shake he pulled her hand gently to his lips and kissed it. The gesture confused Rey, but what confused her more was the heat erupting in her cheeks.

“Alright, alright lover boy that’s enough” Ben laughed giving Poe’s shoulder a friendly push. Ben turned and this time Rey followed him. Rey was right she couldn’t identify most of the food offered.

“Ben, I don’t know what most of this is” She was a little embarrassed by her lack of knowledge, but thankfully Ben never made her feel about it.

“Just pick things and try them, experience is the best way to learn” He gave her a smile. He was right, she went back to the beginning trying to find the things that looked the best. Poe skipped over her and went straight to talking with Ben, she was nearly positive they were talking about her.

Oh A Hamburger, Luke had mentioned something like that. She put a foil wrapped burger on her tray. Pizza? Junior had told her about pizza! So she had to try a slice of that too. Rey stopped and gaped as she came to a large salad bar.

“Ben!” She called again going back to him eagerly.

“What do you need Rey?” Poe was surprised by Ben’s gentle patience with her.

“Can you help me make a salad?” Poe had never seen someone get so excited over a measly garden salad.

 “What do you want on your salad?” Ben looked down at her as she thought for a moment.

“Anything that looks good.” Well that wasn’t much to work with, so Ben tried to give her things that would taste good together and give her the look she wanted. Let’s see, spinach leaves, sweet pecans, sun dried tomatoes, cucumber, shredded carrots, croutons and of course cheese feta to be exact. He filled a couple little cups with different dressings and set them on her tray. It turns out student meals were free, Rey could hardly believe that someone would give food away like that! They found a small round table to sit at, Rey sat next to Ben, Poe joined them sitting across from her and Ben.

“So little Rey where are you from?” Poe asked her casually eating some fries.

“The desert.” She replied matter of factly. Poe raised a brow, she was much to pale to be from a desert, he decided he’d ask Ben more about her lately. Instead of continuing to ask her questions he switched gears to talking to Ben about things going on around campus. Rey didn’t have the patience to listen because none of it sounded interesting so she just ate, by the time Rey finished ¾ of her meal she was beginning to feel exhausted. She rests her elbow on the table and balanced her head in her hand and closed her eyes.

“you’re not taking very good care of your new Padawan Ben, she looks positively exhausted” Rey heard a new voice, one she couldn’t place.

“She’s just fine” Ben’s voice became stern and Rey felt a warm arm wrap around her back. Why couldn’t she open her eyes? She felt she might going into a panic attack as she tried so hard to wake up.

“That’s alright I’ll have my time with her don’t worry. She’s a powerful one I can sense it” The voice drifted in Rey’s ears and she felt herself fall back asleep.

Ben shook Rey’s shoulder trying to wake her, his anger peaking when he couldn’t get her to stir at all.

“Damn Snoke, he did this!” Ben all but slammed his fists on the table.

“I don’t understand how he still works here, can’t Master Skywalker sense the danger in him? Do you think he’s stronger than Master Luke?” Poe questioned as worry come to his eyes. Ben lifted Rey up from the table and cradled her limp body against his shoulder and chest.

“I don’t even know. Will you help me take her up to her room?” Ben asked Poe who nodded. “Grab her back pack and be easy with it, she has a glass music box that means the world to her” Poe nodded and gentle pulled her backpack over his shoulder. He followed Ben up to the girls dorms which weren’t off limits to the boys until 8pm, though the door open rule kind of got in the way.

“She hasn’t even seen the gardens yet” Ben almost sounded disappointed as he hugged her a little tighter.

_‘What is happening to me? My do I care so much about one little Padawan? Snoke said she’s powerful, I’ll have to talk to Uncle Luke and make sure she’s not in any of his classes’_ Ben thought feeling worried for his little apprentice. _‘Why would Luke make me her mentor? Maybe it’s because we have some kind of bond’_

“… What do you think Ben?” Poe asked looking at him expectantly.

“I’m sorry man I was lost in thought, what did you say?” Ben asked a little embarrassed that this child was taking over his thoughts.

“Dude I said there’s a bomb fire tonight at the beach, you wanna go?” Poe said a little chuckle in his voice. Ben looked down at Rey and shook his head.

“Nah I’ll catch the next one, she’s going to wake up in an unfamiliar place. I want to make sure she’s okay.” The soft look in Ben’s eyes surprised Poe. He’d never seen Ben worry about anyone but himself and maybe Poe too if the situation called for it. Ben wasn’t exactly a knight in shining armor.

“She’s different” It wasn’t a question, Poe could see that Rey meant something to Ben she was important to him.

“What? No, she’s just like the others except she’s the youngest. Plus I pulled her out of some pot farm where her foster father was using her as a slave. For fucks sake Poe she had a shock color wrapped around her wrist so she couldn’t leave the green house where she worked!” As Ben remembered finding her his anger flared. The memory of her laying in the dirt. “I’ve heard the speeches and lectures on how people like us can be manipulated into using our powers for the wrong thing, but I’d never thought any person would be so horrible. They fed her cold tofu and made her work for her couple drinks of water a day, in the desert!”

“Hey man, you don’t have to explain to me, but I’m glad you found her. She’s like a ball of light! It’s amazing after what she’s been through that she can be so happy.” Ben had talked a little bit about her situation before, but hearing how truly awful her childhood was he was relieved that she was here with them. She’ll be taken care of here, and if Ben is watching her she’ll be safe too.

Rey’s room was on the 5th floor of the girls dormitory and just like he’d promised it was a single room. Luke and Ben had agreed she wasn’t quite ready to share a room and Luke always strives to keep his students as comfortable as possible. The door was already open and inside across the bed laid a small uniform and a small wrist band as well as some papers. Poe quickly picked everything up and moved it to a desk nestled underneath a window. The walls were cream colored and bare, the bed was in the middle of the left wall with a small night stand beside and a dresser on the other side, but it looked and felt empty.  Ben laid Rey down on the bed and brushed her hair out of her face.

“How long do you think whatever Snoke did will last?” Poe asked softly, him and Ben shared the same concerned look.

“I don’t know” With that the two boys sat on the floor in silence, waiting.

Rey however, felt trapped. She felt that somehow, she could see her surroundings but she couldn’t will her body to get up. She felt as though she were kicking and screaming but whatever weight that was on her wouldn’t let up. Whatever limbo she was in Rey was scared she’d fall deeper. Where had Ben gone? Couldn’t he hear her screaming out for him?

Rey could see shadows dancing in her peripheral vison and it only made her try harder to get away. Her screams turned into desperate cries for whatever the darkness was to go away, but it grew closer slowly creeping toward her like a mist over a swamp. The darkness covered her from the neck down like a sheet, Rey stopped jerking. What scared her the most was that she found the cold darkness kind of comforting, soothing. She was nearly lulled into peace when the shadows moved up her neck and across her face. Then without warning the shadow slithered into her mouth and down her throat. Rey started to choke and tried to scream. After what felt like a century the shadow came out of her with something in it. The shadow morphed into a hand that held a glowing ball of blue light, Rey would have found it beautiful if she hadn’t been so afraid.

_‘I’m going to take this from you'_

And with that Rey sat up screaming finally released from whatever hell she was stuck in. She grabbed at her chest panicking and breathing heavy.

“Rey? Rey! What’s wrong?” Ben was at her side in an instant, that was when Rey realized she was still screaming. It took Rey a moment before she could stop and she went straight from screaming to sobbing.

“I was calling to you, but you weren’t here” She managed between gasps for air.

“No, no I’ve been here all along, you fell asleep” Ben pulled her to his chest running his hands through her hair, hoping that it was comforting. It must have been because her sobs subsided to sniffles.

“I could see the room, I was stuck in bed and something wouldn’t let me get up. I’ve been screaming for hours” She pressed her face further into his chest.

“You’ve only been asleep for 45 minutes Rey, just take a few deep breaths and calm down okay” He whispered to her continuing to smooth out her hair.

Poe let out a strangled cough. “Should I get master Skywalker?”

“No” ”Yes” Rey and Ben spoke at the same time.

“No I guess not” Ben decided. “I’ll talk to him later” Rey looked up at him curiously but Ben didn’t give any indication what might be wrong.

“Alright, well I’m going to head out” Poe said, he stepped toward Rey and Ben. “If you ever need anything little princess, you can always find me” She smiled at him as he ruffled her hair. “Anyway I’ve got a big party to get too” He shot her a wink and headed out the door.

Rey looked up at Ben a question in her eyes. “Ben, what is a party?”

And like that any tension that had been created by her nightmare popped like a bubble and Ben laughed.

“A party is where a group of people get together and have fun” Of course the kinds of parties Poe went to were a little more than that, but he didn’t want to explain that to her.

“I wanna go to the party” Well damn…

“Not one of Poe’s parties, you’re a bit young for that still” She nodded seeming to accept Ben’s reason.

“Plus I still need to show you the gardens” Her eyes lit up as he suggested that, but it was starting to get late. “Why don’t I show you the greenhouses? It’s starting to get dark out” Rey nodded letting out a yawn. “Then you can come back up and go to bed.” Rey clung herself onto him as he mentioned going back to sleep.

“I can’t” She spoke quietly. “please” She was looking up at him with a glance that reminded him of when they’d first met, a look of horror.

“Okay, we’ll figure something out” He agreed, not having a clue what the solution would be. She’d been in her new room for less than an hour and she was already afraid to be there. “Before we go back downstairs, why don’t you try on your class uniform?” She perked up as he mentioned that. “On the desk” She was off the bed in an instant going to the dresser and looking through her new outfit. She picked up the white wristband and turned back to Ben.

“What is this?” She asked delicately holding it out for him.

“It’s a power suppressing bracelet. You don’t need to worry about it right now. Luke agreed that after what you’ve been through it might be to traumatic to wear it just yet.” Rey nodded and set it back on the desk delicately clearly wary of it. “All the younger year students wear them, it allows you to only use your gifts in the courtyard and the class room area, not in the dorms or off property. It’s mostly used because there has been trouble in the past with kids thinking they can show off. No one knows what kind of students learn here, it’s kind of a secret” Rey listened attentively.

“It’s not like the shock bracelet?” Ben smiled at her and shook his head.

“Nothing like that at all, if you try and user your powers outside of the area it won’t hurt you, they just won’t work” She let a sigh of relief. She trusted Ben to tell her the truth.

“I am going to get dressed, okay?” He’d never seen someone so eager to wear a uniform before, but of course she found everything exciting. He heard her gasp as she entered her own private bathroom. If she’d been fascinated by the one in the hotel she would be awestruck by this one. It took her a good five minutes to change and then she came bursting out.

“Have you seen that?” She asked breathlessly pointing towards the bathroom. “it’s beautiful!”

Ben had to look, he’d never been in the lady’s bathrooms before. He’d always made the woman he’d fancied come to his room. As he entered the door his jaw had dropped. Why did the woman bathroom appear so much nicer than the men’s, and he’d thought the men’s bathrooms were well off. This bathroom looked like it had come from the original mansion! There was a modern shower tucked in the far corner, a separate room where the toilet was, a closet. A large vanity complete with a plush stool, the sink looked like it had crystal fixtures and the biggest piece in the room was a claw foot tub that looked nearly as old as the ancient house itself.

“Your bathroom is much nicer than mine” He chuckled as he turned back to her and noticed her swaying and playing with her skirt, she stopped abruptly and looked up at him.

“Do you want to trade?” The offer caught him off guard. “You can have it” Her smile never left her face as she looked up at him expectantly. Did she really expect him to take it? He couldn’t help but bend down so he could face her head on.

“Rey, this is yours. No one can take it from okay, and it’s okay for you to have nice things.” He kept his voice soft but firm.  She nodded and smiled at him again.

“I’ve never had things, I guess it’s just easy to not need them so much” It was such a simple response but it made sense. She didn’t feel like she was giving anything away because she was so used to having nothing.

“It won’t be like that anymore” He smoothed out her hair again, thanks to Poe it was a mess. “Lets go see those greenhouses!”

She was to the doorway of her room before he could blink, bouncing on her feet eagerly as if that would make him walk faster. He couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm, if she could keep this energy for her studies she would be an incredible student. The stairs were full of traffic in girls dressed in bikini’s and wrapped in towels heading toward the beach bonfire. Some of the girls gave him dirty looks, while others smiled at him flirting. “Benny” He cringed at the voice behind him, and in a second her hands were on his shoulder pulling him to a stop. He found she’d stayed two steps up so her boobs were in his face.

“What is it Ronnie?” He didn’t bother try and hide his distain. “I’m showing a student around.” He motioned behind him to Rey who peaked up at her past Ben’s legs shyly.

“Aw she’s so cute! Where does she belong?” Ben knew what she meant but her method of asking left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Water.” Was all he said.

“Oh what a shame, we need more fire girls we’ve been overrun by guys the last two years.” She ran a hand lazily down his chest, then back up. “Why don’t you come teach our summer class? You and me would have such a good time with all the extra credit I could earn” The blonde leaned forward puckering her lips but Ben leaned back nearly knocking Rey off the step below him.

“Can’t do it, I’ll be helping my Padawan catch up all summer. We’ll be busy, SO busy. Please don’t bother looking I’ll find you when I have time” By the time Ben finished his rambling there was a full flight of stairs between Ben and the woman Ronnie, Rey was running down the stairs as quickly as she could to keep up with Ben which wasn’t really working. Before she turned the corner to the next flight she looked back up at Ronnie who hadn’t moved, she was giving Rey a look of pure loathing. Rey didn’t linger and continued chasing Ben down the stairs.

“Who is that?” Rey panted out of breath as they reached the first floor.

“Nothing good” Ben sounded much less breathless than her, but even he’d managed to get winded in his quick descent. “Are you okay?” How was he already catching his breath? Her lungs were still burning from her effort to keep up with him.

“Fine” She said desperately. Ben lead her back to the commons of the school building and down the far corridor. When they’d walked through here earlier they didn’t enter any of the rooms, but now Ben stopped outside of a big set of double doors. He pulled a ring of keys out the pocket of his black jeans and for the first time Rey realized what he was wearing. A pair of semi-tight black jeans a black V-neck and what looked like a piece of his school uniform, a black jacket with a crest embroidered in deep green over his left breast. The crest on her own jacket was different and it was a soft shade of blue, underneath a simple white button down T-shirt, her skirt was black but had a plaid texture in the same soft blue color. Ben finally managed to get the door in front of them open and he held it open for Rey. There was another set of heavy looking double doors on the other side.

“These big doors help keep the greenhouse the right temperature and humidity. The two buildings are never the same temperature and we need to keep them where they should be” Rey nodded understanding, Unkar Plutt kept fans in the greenhouse to make sure the air circulated properly and that it was cool enough the plans wouldn’t die, or her she supposed.

Ben opened the second set of doors this time walking in front of her and holding the door open for her from the other side. As she stepped into the greenhouse Rey was met with a strong humidity and more color than she’d ever seen in her whole life. Her hands instantly flew to her mouth to hide the sounds of her giggles and her cries, tears of joy filled her eyes immediately as she stepped closer to the rows of plants slowly. Ben looked down at her giving his biggest smile yet, he’d wondered what her reaction would be and seeing it was more than anything he’d ever thought. Could a person be a rainbow? Because that was the only way to describe Rey, all she was, was light and beauty.

Since it was after hours they had the whole greenhouse to themselves. Ben took to pointing out whichever plants she asked about and warning her against ones she shouldn’t touch. By the time they made it to the back of the greenhouse the sky above had grown dark.

“Are you sure I can’t just sleep in here?” Rey asked letting out a yawn refusing Ben’s pleas for her to go back up to her room. “Please I don’t want to sleep in their Ben, just not tonight at least?” Ben let out a sigh.

“Do you want me to see if Phasma will let you stay with her? That’s Christine” Rey nodded, she seemed like a nice lady after all. Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket tapping away at the keys. “Either way we have to go up to your room so you can get dressed for bed” Rey agreed even though she really didn’t want to.

Ben walked back up the stairs. “Normally boys aren’t allowed in the girls dorm this late, but since you’re so new it will be okay for tonight” He ruffled her hair smiling down at her. “I was nervous when I first came to the academy too, so I don-“

“Ben Solo!” A look of horror crossed his feature, a very different reaction from the last woman who’d called for him. “Don’t you dare run away from me” An older woman came marching up the stairs behind them, Rey wanted to hide but Ben seemed to have the same idea as he held her in front of him.

“Mara, what seems to be the problem? Have you met my new Padawan?” Mara's look was a blaze of fury.

“Luke gave you another child to torment and terrify?” She didn’t look down at Rey. “You know you’re not allowed up here. If you think you’ll sneak into the bed of one of my girls you’ll be disappointed. Everyone is still out at the bonfire.” Ugh that reputation.

“Mara please, I’m just taking her back up to her room.” Mara finally looked down at Rey, what was intended to be a quick glance turned in to a double take.

“Oh aren’t you a cutie?” She cooed as she bent down to Rey’s height. Rey didn’t know what to think of this woman so she stepped back into Ben who tightened his grip on her shoulders comforting her.

“I’m Rey” She said quietly not meeting the gaze of the woman.

“You’re lucky Ben, I want her paperwork in the morning. I’ll see you tomorrow sweetie” With that the red h ead was headed back down the stairs presumably to wherever she’d come from. As they made their way up the stairs Rey couldn’t help but ask.

“Who was that woman?” Her voice conveyed a concerned curiosity as she looked back down the stairs behind her, even though she knew Mara was long gone.

“That’s Mara Jade” Ben said nudging Rey to keep climbing. “She’s in charge of the girl dormitories. If she seemed a little aggressive don’t worry it’s just me” They’d finally reached the 5th floor and headed down the hall towards Rey’s room. In truth when she’d left earlier she hadn’t paid attention to number so she let Ben lead the way for now.

“Why did she think you wanted to sneak into my bed?” Her eyes were wide and filled with innocent curiosity as she looked up at him, and his face immediately turned red as he began stuttering.

“Uh, n-no, it’s, I um…” He groaned in frustration and she gave him a concerned look.

“Will you lay in my bed with me? You don’t have to be sneaky” Rey didn’t think his face could have turned and redder and she was proven right now that it was nearly purple.

“It’s okay, I understand” Rey turned from him as they reached her door. “I can stay here by myself” She gave him a soft sad smile. She was used to people leaving her, she was used to being scared and alone. She trusted Ben to keep her safe, but she knew it wasn’t his job to stay with her through the night, especially when she was probably just overreacting anyway. She turned back to her room closing the door.

Ben put his foot against the door to stop her from isolating herself. “Rey, you don’t have to be alone” He bent down to run his hand through her hair but she grabbed his hand instead, pulling it with both her hands to her chest like she was praying. His was filled with something he’d never felt before, compassion maybe even a hint of love.

"You don’t have to be alone either Ben” Her voice was soft as a rose petal, but her eyes shined. Oh her eyes the gold in them always sparkled when she looked at him. He knows he shouldn’t let their bond keep growing but at the same time he doesn’t want to break it. They’re so similar, both feel abandoned and alone but somehow, she’d managed to shine through all the hard times while Ben fell into darkness and temptations too much.

That was the moment Ben realized he needed it change, he had to be stronger for her. She needed to be protected and he was going to do it. He would protect the innocence in her in a way that no one ever had for him.

“Okay Rey what if I sit with you until you fall asleep?” Ben proposed as he let himself in her room, Rey closing the door behind him.

“I guess, but what if the shadow man comes back?” That caught Ben’s attention, he picked her up and sat her on the bed then sat across from her.

“You saw the shadow man?” Ben was frighteningly serious and she didn’t like it.

“Well kind of” Ben let out a sigh of relief. “In my nightmare I was stuck to the bed. It was in this room though Ben and there weren’t ties or anything I just couldn’t get up.” Ben could hear the fear in her voice now, whatever this is it had scared her down to the bone. “Then the shadows came, they covered my whole body. They…” She paused and tried to think of a way to explain what happened next. “It pulled something out of me” Yeah that worked.

“It pulled something out of you… the darkness did?” Ben seemed to be deep in thought so Rey only nodded. “How?” She should’ve known he would ask.

“It went down my throat to find it and it pulled this ball of light, it looks like a star, a blue star.” Rey thought describing it would help. “The darkness changed to the shape of a hand and then something spoke in my head to me, I know it was in my head because it came like a thought with a different voice. It was crackly and deep, a mans voice!”

“What did it say Rey?” Ben was being serious again, Rey preferred fun laughing Ben.

“It said, I will take this from you” Ben went still and silent for a moment. Rey was scared to break the silence.

“go get ready for bed please” His voice was steady, but he never smiled. Rey decided she’d better just do what he asked, Ben looked like he was processing something. Rey found her backpack propped up against the wall where Poe had been sitting. She pulled out Ben’s shirt that he’d loaned her the night before and dashed into the amazing bathroom. She shed her knew uniform and tossed it with the clothes she’d taken off earlier, as she threw the T-shirt on. She loved this shirt, even a day later it still smelled a little like him, laundry detergent and herself. Rey liked it, it made her feel safe and something else she didn’t really have words for, but she liked it and that is all that mattered.

When Rey exited the bathroom, she found that been had taken off his shoes and socks and was laying on her bed his black jacket tossed aside on the floor.  He looked exhausted he needed someone to make him smile and do more than see the sunshine, he needed to feel it. She decided that would be her mission! Show Ben Solo the light!

She jumped on the bed on her knee’s beside him.

“Are you getting comfortable Mister Solo?” She put on a straight face and looked down at with lacking all expression.

“Oh sorry Rey I’m get- Hey! Is that my shirt?” Rey let out a snort and giggles.

“I thought it was a gift” She put on her best innocent voice, but unfortunately for Rey she was a terrible actress.

“A gift huh? I’ll give you a gift” Ben leaned over and tickled her sides. Rey flopped backward on the bed squealing.

“Ben!” She yelled trying to catch her breath.  He finally retracted his hands and laid back down beside her. Brown hair was everywhere, covering both of her pillows even the one Ben was using, how could one child have so much hair?

“Rey, do you know how to braid your hair?” Rey thought it was a weird question until she tried to get up and was trapped by her hair stuck in several places including underneath Ben Solo. Rey felt the tips of her ears get hot and her cheeks. Ben laughed and sat up. “Your hair is so long, it could be dangerous in the labs so braiding will help keep it out of your face and out of the way. Have you ever thought about cutting it?” Rey reacted instantly to the thought by pulling her hair away from him.

“No way, never. I told you I’m going to have Rapunzel hair and I meant it.” Ben gave her a soft smile.

“You know it’s not the hair that makes the princess, right?” Ben turned her around and used his fingers to brush the knots out of her hair.

“I know, I just want to grow up and be beautiful too” It was the first time she’s ever really shown insecurity about her physical appearance.

“Rey, you’re already beautiful. That is not something you will have to worry about” Ben kept weaving the hair in his fingers.

“I saw all those girls, even the one that talked to you. They’re so tall and beautiful.” Ben knew most of the girls were fit because their classes demanded it, but how could he explain that to an eight-year-old girl who is experiencing these feelings for the first time.

“Cinderella was an orphan whose stepmother abused her but she still found someone who could love her, but I’m too scared to even sleep alone.” Ben knew this conversation would be therapeutic for Rey so he let her talk as much as she wanted while he continued to braid her hair. “It’s silly dreaming of being someone like Rapunzel or Cinderella, you’re the only prince I need Ben!” was this kid bi-polar? How can she go from being sad to exuberant in two seconds?

“I’m your prince?” Ben stopped playing with her hair and positioned himself so he was making eye contact. “Rey trust me, I am the farthest thing from a prince”

Rey made a humming and gave him a good looking up and down. “Let’s see. You saved me from my foster home. Brought me halfway around the country to the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. You agreed to be my mentor when you didn’t have too. You’ve been taking care of me non-stop since we’ve met and now you’re in my bed helping me pin my hair up. If my prince really is still out there and he can’t manage that, then you’re better than any prince, Ben”  


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a slight edit to chapter 3, I was torn between who would make a better charge for the girl dorms. Originally it was Mara Jade instead of Jessika Pava but I didn't want Mara or Mera getting confused but I decided to keep Mara on. So you get to meet Jess for real in this chapter! Just a little name switch because I like the character I have written for Jess a lot more.

**Chapter 4**

                Ben woke up to his back-aching laying on the floor of a dorm he immediately recognized was not his own. He pushed himself so he was sitting upright and scratched his head, what was he doing here. He looked down… _‘Nope, still fully clothed’_ He did notice there had been a pillow under his head and a blanket on his back. He took a moment to look around and yawn, it was so dark what time was it? Then he noticed Rey curled up into a ball on her bed her only pillow pulled to her chest and she was shivering. Ben wondered for a moment if he could sneak away back to his own room but decided he couldn’t do that to Rey so instead he repeated their previous night together. He laid beside her and pulled her close to his chest, god her skin was like ice. He hoped for a moment she wasn’t getting sick and decided taking her for a health evaluation before anything else would be the best idea for the itinerary tomorrow. She reminded him of a squirrel or maybe a tiny kitten the way she pushed her body into his filling any space she could to get warm. He didn’t bother with the pillow but he pulled the blanket over them both and closed his eyes. It seemed like only seconds had passed but as Ben opened his eyes he noticed that there was light filtering in through the curtains and he was alone. He shot up in bed and looked around, Rey was nowhere to be seen.

“Rey?” He called expecting to hear a reply from the bathroom, or her giggling anything but the room stayed silent. He was pulling on his socks and shoes as quickly as he could nearly tripping himself as he ripped open the bathroom door. Nothing, it looked clean. He felt his pulse slow a little as he stepped back toward her bed and realized her backpack was there and on the desk was his shirt folded neatly. He took a few slow deep breaths to calm himself as he exited her dorm.

It was quiet. He thumped down the stairs checking each hall before going down another flight. What if she was lost?

“Another girl for your bedpost Solo?” The voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs and he looked down his heart fluttering as Jessika smiled up at him.

“Oh hey Jess, have you seen a short kid running around? Young, first year water kid?” He didn’t mean to sound nervous but she always got that reaction out of him. She was the most attractive girl in his class and even still no one at the academy could hold a candle to her. Her long black hair and tan skin were the items of his fantasies, not that he’d ever tell her that.

“A first year? What has a first year done to warrant your wrath?” Her laugh was enough make him nearly forget what he was doing in the first place. “Is that why you’re up so early?”

They walked down the hall together both keeping their eyes peeled for his Padawan. “We just brought her in, Luke decided it was a good idea to make her my Padawan.” Ben laughed it off, but Jess gave him a soft smile in return.

“Are you going to keep this one or scare her away?” Her tone was kind but her eyes serious. “I know you do it on purpose Ben” He refused to meet her eyes as they walked side by side. Jess was the female summer instructor for the aeronautics students along with Poe. Ben didn’t bother to reply to Jessika’s comments and they continued their walk through the empty corridor.

Ben let out sigh when he saw a brown braid and a blue uniform at the juice counter. He didn’t hesitate to confront her.

“Rey you nearly gave me a heart attack!” He’d startled her and she dropped her cup half filled with juice turning to him. The fear in her eyes cleared his mind of any previous worry or fears and left only the thought of reassuring her. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry”

“I’m sorry Ben, I just.. I was-“ Tears flooded her eyes against her will. Rey just wanted something to drink, when she woke up she laid waiting for a while but she was so thirsty. She had gone into the bathroom and drank out of the sink but it wasn’t satisfying her, so she thought she could grab something without anyone noticing. Ben coming up behind her reminded her of a time once when she’d snuck into Unkar’s house for a glass of water. He had caught her before she could even get a drink of it and took her outside and made her dump the water in the dirt and when she’d let her tears fall he’d backhanded so hard across her left cheek she fell in the puddle at her feet.

“Rey, don’t cry. I’m so sorry” Ben didn’t know how to console her, he hadn’t meant to frighten her to tears. Was she afraid of him? He hadn’t thought so but maybe she was after all.

“Hey” It was Jessika, Ben hadn’t realized she’d followed him into the refectory. “Don’t cry he scares all the girls” She bent down and picked up Rey’s cup from the floor and took Rey’s hand leading her away from the mess. “So, you’re a water student, have you seen the fountains outside yet?” Jessika’s voice was so soft and soothing Rey just shook her head in response. Jess looked over Rey’s head to Ben and motioned to the empty cup as she set it with the dirty dishes and continued to lead Rey out of the refectory to the doors.

“Ben is your mentor, right?” Rey nodded. Jess smiled at her and led her to the doors. “Well Ben is very smart, you are going to learn a lot from him.” Ben followed them out the door a few minutes later with a tray of drinks and some of the things they could have for breakfast.   “You know when Ben first started school here he was so shy he was too scared to talk to anyone” Ben scoffed behind them making Jessika laugh.

“That isn’t true, I wasn’t too scared to talk I just didn’t want to be here so I refused to participate or make friends” Ben walked around the girls setting the tray on the wide edge of a fountain. He’d spoken without thinking.

“You didn’t want to come here? But you said it’s great here” Rey looked up at him confused and Jessika laughed. The butterflies in Ben’s stomach were in a whirl wind.

“People change as they grow up Rey. The more you learn the more you grow” Jessika explained to Rey.

“Oh I want to learn as many things as I can! I want to be as tall as Ben, then no one could ever hurt me” Jessika couldn’t bring herself to respond her face dropped all signs of the joy she’d had.

“You little fish, I told you no one here will hurt you” Ben said picking Rey up and twirling her around. “We’ve got a busy day! You need a health exam and then we have to talk with a few of the teachers here to schedule some summer lessons for you.” Ben set Rey back down and handed her a fruit cup from the tray and glass of orange juice. She smiled up at him gratefully and took a sip shuddering in surprise of how sour it tasted, but she loved it!

“This is delicious Ben!” She explained in delight. “What is it?” Ben was handing Jess a cup of coffee, three creams and two sugars just how he knew she liked it.

“It’s orange juice, it’s what most people drink for breakfast” Jessika was surprised that Ben didn’t get frustrated by her question. What child didn’t know what orange juice was? She looked at Ben with curious eyes before taking a sip of her coffee. She couldn’t believe he remembered how she liked it, but then again Ben was always surprising her. “All right Rey, you see that white fence over there? That is the beginning of one of the outside gardens.” Rey’s eyes lit up as she took a step forward but then retracted it.

“May I go look? Please I won’t go too far” She was half pleading as she looked at Ben with desperate eyes, he only gave her a soft smile.

“You go look, I’ll come join you in a few. Have fun Rey” In the midst of her excitement she latched her arms around Ben’s hips and gave him the biggest hug she could, in return he ran a hand through her hair, and then she was gone. Ben grabbed his coffee and took a sip as he watched her run into the garden looking every direction she could. Ben couldn’t wait to teach her more about her power and to show her the beaches around the school.  

“You’ve got this pretty bad huh?” It was Jess peaking at him over her coffee as she took a sip, a mischievous smiled on her face as she pulled her coffee away.

“Got what bad?” He was genuinely confused by her question.

“You feel for her, what’s her story?” Jess gave in a soft smile this time and her eyes were filled with genuine curiosity with a hint of concern. “She’s so sweet, but she nearly had a panic attack when you caught her getting that juice.”

“I do not have feelings for her, that sounds disgusting” Ben’s face twisted to horror help make his point, but Jessika noted that he had misunderstood her question completely. “We found Rey in the desert, she’s an orphan. Her foster father was keeping her locked up in a greenhouse forcing her to help grow marijuana and while they made a fortune Rey slept on the ground in these rags of clothing. You should have seen her face when I gave her a glass of water, I’ve never seen anyone look so excited and grateful. She said they only ever fed her cold tofu. The sickest part was that she had a shock collar for a wrist band, it would shock if she tried to leave. We’re all she has now” Jess noted the sadness in his eyes as he looked away from her and back towards the gardens. Jessika looked out to the garden as well, she could still see Rey sniffing every flower and it looked like she was talking to herself as well, no, no she was talking to the flowers. Jessika felt her heart melt as this little girl who’s had nothing but a rotten life could smile so bright and keep such an incredible kindness.

“She’ll be happy here Ben, don’t worry. It’ll just take time for her to adjust.” Jessika was confident that she was right. After all this school brought children together from all walks of life and it taught them how to handle situations like what Rey had gone through to ensure that they don’t happen again.

Rey ran into the garden excited to see all the flowers growing and blossoming. She took her time to notice every single one and whisper sweet nothings to them. She came along a row of buttercups and told them that they were so beautiful, then there was a section of tulips growing in an array of colors some of them were drooping down.

“What is wrong little tulips, you’re so lovely you should reach as high as you can to kiss the sky” And much to her surprise they straightened up. “Are you thirsty little friends? I can get you a drink!” Rey turned with the intention of getting the little flowers some water but froze when she saw a line of bushes down the other path, she recognized them immediately hydrangea’s, Ben’s had mentioned these were his favorite. She couldn’t help herself she must admire them. They were in full bloom and as she approached them slowly and let her hand graze the little flowers. “Wow, you are all so incredible!” She gushed to them as she moved down to another colored bushel of them. White, pink, purple, blue and orange nearly a whole rainbow lined this row of the garden on both sides and as the wind blew gently across some of the petals fell towards Rey making a rain of softness and beauty. Rey could help her giggle. “Thank you, that was incredible!”

“you found them I see” It was Ben rounding the corner his hands lazily tucked in his pockets a smile growing on his face as he had been listening for a small moment as she showed her gratitude to the plants. “They love compliments, but don’t give them too many. They can get pretty full of themselves” Rey laughed and Ben joined her.

“Everyone here should know how beautiful they are, and these ones might just be my favorite now” She caressed one of the blooms gently with her hand again. Ben couldn’t help but notice how the plant seemed to respond to her, it was as if the other bundles of blossoms were subtly reaching for her as well.  “The tulips back there were looking a little dried out, is it okay if I water them?” She asked turning to Ben and removing her hand, and the plant seemed to have a slight droop now as if it were sad she was no longer touching it. Ben was wondering what that would mean before he was able to shake his thoughts and answer her.

“Oh sorry Rey, lost in thought. There’s no need to water them, they have timed sprinklers.” He said softly smiling at her desire to help them.

“I had a feeling they were being a little dramatic” Rey laughed and as she did Ben noticed how all the flowers around them perked up just a little. Ben decided he would have to ask his uncle about this, it was something he’d never seen or heard of before.

“We should head back in though Rey we have a big day ahead of us, I did grab you a fruit cup if you want to try it? I left it by the fountain.” Rey perked up and nodded. As they passed back through the flowers she’d already greeted she left them with well wishes and promises she could be back to see them as soon as she could. Ben handed Rey the fruit cup and a fork and they headed inside. Rey hummed with every piece of fruit she ate.

“This is one is delicious what it is?” She asked holding up a yellow square cut fruit.

“That one is a chunk of pineapple, they’re delicious aren’t they! Sometimes they’re a little sour though” He replied smiling at her obvious enjoyment of the pieces of fruit. Jessika had to go meet up with her class so it was just Rey and Ben heading to the medical center on campus. As they entered the receptionist greeted them kindly and Ben gave them her name and dorm number explaining she was a new student who came from poor circumstances and needed a basic exam to make sure she was healthy enough to study. Rey took the time to sit in one of the slightly uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room. It was still early enough now that no one was up in the clinic.

“Okay it’ll be a few minutes while they get set up for you, now this might not be a fun visit okay” Ben didn’t want to scare her, but he didn’t want her to go in unprepared either. “They’re going to do a bunch of tests to make sure that you’re healthy. Have you ever gone to a doctor before?” Rey only gave a slight nod.

“A doctor came to the greenhouse a few times before, but I think he was one of Plutt’s friends or clients. My arms was broken so he put it in a cast for a few weeks. Then another time he said I broke a rib and he gave me a shot of something that made me feel really funny but there was nothing else he could do”

_‘Of course that man had a doctor under his service too’_ Ben thought as he nodded in understanding. Ben couldn’t help but wonder what the shot was he gave Rey, it sounded like something for pain, at least Plutt didn’t take medication management into his own hands.

“Okay you’ll have to tell the doctor everything you can remember okay?” Rey nodded with a smiling eating the last piece of fruit out of her cup, hopping out of her seat and tossing it in the garbage along with her plastic fork.

“Rey?” A young man appeared through a door, Rey felt nervous all of a sudden and looked at Ben who only smiled at her and joined her by her side taking one of her hands and following the man to the back of the clinic. “Don’t worry, I’m just going to ask you a few questions to help decide what tests we should perform. I don’t want to do anything that won’t be necessary okay?” Rey nodded giving Ben’s hand a nervous squeeze. “I will need to get your height and weight though, is that okay? The medical assistant looked from Rey up to Ben and they both gave slow caution nods. The man led them to a scale in the hall. He pushed a couple of buttons waited a minute then looked down to Rey. “alright can you just step on here please?” She complied without saying anything. Rey was busy staring at the wall in front of her, but Ben noticed the concerned look that crossed the med assistance face. “Alright miss if you could put your back against the wall here” Rey followed his motion and as he confirmed her height Ben noticed his face again. “When is your birthday again?” He asked looking at Rey.

“January first, 200” He nodded taking a few notes.

“Okay if you could just wait in here for the doctor it’ll only be a minute or two” the assistant led them into a small room with a long medical table and then continued on his way down the hall.

 Rey stayed quiet fidgeting with her fingers in her lap. Ben could see how nervous she was. “Is this your first time at a doctor’s office?” He asked her taking one of her hands in his own. He knew she’d seen a doctor, being in the office seemed to be causing her stress.

“not exactly” She whispered back, staring down into her lap. Rey couldn’t quite understand what this feeling was that was blossoming inside her, a mix of fear, distrust and shame. “I had a broken leg once and Plutt took me to an office in town. I told the doctor how Plutt made me work and didn’t feed me but he just laughed and said I had an overactive imagination” Ben gave Rey’s hand a soft squeeze. “Plutt was so angry he said he’d break my other leg if I ever spoke out like that again, and the doctor didn’t listen anyway, so what would be the point of trying” For the first time since he first met her he saw the light in her eyes fade to hopelessness.  Ben couldn’t help but wonder how old she was when that had happened, she lost her faith in finding help so young.

There was a soft knock on the door and a woman’s face appeared. “Hello, you must be Rey” Rey just nodded. “I am doctor Kalonia, I’m going to be honest with you Rey, I’d like to run a few tests. You’re very small, way too small for someone your age so I need to make sure you’re still healthy okay?” Rey nodded again. The doctor explained a handful of tests she wanted completed by the end of the month and that she expected Rey to return to her office the first week of July. Rey agreed to whatever the doctor was saying, but Ben didn’t think she was listening at all. Rey wanted to trust this doctor, but found herself filled with doubt as the doctor ensured that no matter what the test results said they would take care of her. The only people who had ever taken care of her were Mister Luke and Ben, and Rey still couldn’t understand why they cared.

The woman escorted them back to the waiting area but held Ben back. “Ben, she’s extremely underweight and hasn’t been growing properly. Make sure she eats good portions okay. Take things slow with her, her bones will be fragile and her body week. No physical training until I get these results.” She spoke firmly before letting Ben go into the waiting room with Rey.

“Ready for the next adventure?” He asked her as he lead her out of the office. “we have to go to the faculty building to do some placement testing” Rey nodded as he leads her out into the sunshine, though she didn’t really know what placement testing was Ben noticed the confusion on her face and continued. “Placement tests will help us understand what you know so we can teach you better.

They walked close to the building then down a narrow cement path between the tree’s. Ben noted Rey’s silence it made him feel uneasy, especially when he looked down at her to find a sorrow. He took her hand a stopped her bending down to look her in the eye.

“What is it that’s bothering you Rey?” He tucked a strain of hair behind her ear and made a mental note to take her into town to buy some basic things she’d need, like hair ties.

“I’m trying to fit in, but it’s hard.” She took a shaky deep breath in and into his eyes. “I am scared to take these tests. I’m not smart Ben, I can only read because someone pitied me enough to teach me. I don’t want-“ She scrunched her eyes close to hold back her tears and she took another deep breath. “I don’t want to know what those tests will say” Ben pulled her into his arms and gave her a long squeeze.

“Hey, hey don’t worry” He whispered in her ear. “They’ll explain the test better inside, they’ll also run a couple fun tests to see if you have any other abilities we should keep an eye on too. You’ll like those tests I think” Rey calmed herself and pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly” They took one in together and blew it out in a steady stream, Rey following Ben’s direction. “Now We’re about to face the unknown, do you want your first impression to be fear?” Rey shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “Exactly, lets do our best to smile and be nice. Everything is easier when you face it with a smile” Rey gave Ben a soft closed mouth smile and nodded and they continued down the path hand in hand. They came upon a mansion of a house that looked as old as the school, a small plaque mounted on the stone steps read _‘Skywalker Academy Administrative Building’_. Rey swallowed and took a deep breath in letting it out slowly like Ben had showed her and put the best smile on her face she could muster.

“Rey!” It was Mister Luke, he must have been chatting with the black haired woman behind the desk, Rey recognized her from the night before, Bazine. She was relieved to see familiar faces so she gave them both a big smile and waved. “How do you like it here so far?” Luke asked as she approached the desk, Ben disappeared down a corridor saying something about checking her in.

“It’s so big Mister Luke! Everything is beautiful, I had orange juice and it’s delicious!” Luke and Bazine both chuckled at her enthusiasm. “I do not like the doctor though, she talked to Ben about me but I don’t know what she said. She wants a lot of tests but I don’t know, I’m not sick” She motioned with her hands as she spoke letting out her frustrations, and out of nowhere Luke put a hand on her forehead and Rey froze.

“You’re right, no fever but getting those tests done will help us make you better if you do get sick. Trust me, it’s better we have all this information that way we can make it so you don’t get sick so much later” Rey nodded thinking about it for a minute.

“I guess you’re right.” She admitted with a sigh, so much for getting out of that.

“Rey” Ben called her softly from the entry of the corridor. “They’re ready for you” Ben looked back up to his Uncle and nodded. “I’m going to help set you up okay, then I’m going to step out to talk to Master Skywalker” Rey’s face went white.

“You’re leaving me?” Her voice shook as she looked up to him.

“I’m not allowed to be in the room while you test, it will be just you. After I finish talking with Luke I’ll be in the room right next door.” Rey nodded reluctantly and let Ben lead her in a back office, then into a small room with only a table and chair. The proctor came into the room an introduce himself, Rey managed to remember Ben’s previous advice and smiled. They went over the rules and Ben even showed Rey the room he would be in while she worked. She nodded still feeling nervous but overall better about the situation. “Try your best, if you don’t know an answer just move on, okay?” Ben encouraged. “You can’t fail, so don’t pressure yourself” Ben gave her a big hug before exiting the room. The proctor gave her the first test she was to be working on, math.

_‘I can do this, I can do this’_ Rey chanted to herself over and over as she opened the test booklet and read over a couple questions on each page to try and understand how the problems would evolve. _‘Why are there letters? This is math not writing!’_ She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly and began working. She could do basic math up to division and she felt like she was doing well until letters started appearing. She took her time reading over each problem, ‘ _7x+18=-2+(12x)=… hm x=4?’_ She thought that was the right answer but she did guess some, and after staring at the problems for a few minute she was able to figure out some of the quadratic equations as well at least she thought. Then she ended up at questions involving circles with foreign symbols and the confidence that she had built up evaporated. She didn’t want to guess, but thought it might be worth it to try and figure out how the problems worked, as far as she was concerned she failed.

“Hello?” She called. “I’m can’t do anymore problems on this test” It was a few minutes later that the proctor returned and took the test from her handing her two booklets this time, Reading and Writing. He explained that one booklet would be for an essay and another would be reading and writing a short book report. Rey was excited for this test! She spent as much of her time as she could reading, she prayed a thanks to Junior for teaching her. It was an exert from Romeo and Juliet, at first the language made Rey nervous she had to read it twice before she could understand what was happening but, the more she read, the more she understood and the more she understood the more she loved it. Rey decided to write her book report on the idea of fate and how it will bring people destined to be together no matter the hell they walk on earth or in their deaths. The other essay packet required her to write a paper on what she wants to be when she grows up. She thought about writing about being a ballerina, or a gardener but she settled on the one thing she always wanted for as long as she can remember, to be part of a family. Once the essays were finished her proctor brought in her last test, it was science. This was sure to be her worst subject, she never had a reason to learn science in the greenhouse everything Plutt demanded she do just came to her naturally, and science wasn’t something she could do to pass the time when she was alone, not like reading. Rey was determined not to give up, so she tried her best but stopped understanding some of the large words when she got to question 12. Rey folded her test over admitting defeat, science won this round but she was determined now. She wanted to be smart and she would work as hard as she could until she proved to herself she could do all the problems in these books. This time when the proctor came in Ben was behind him.

“How did it go?” Ben sounded nervous asking her, but she smiled at him shrugging.

“I need to learn science” Ben grimaced as she said that. “What?” She asked playfully.

“Science is the worst” Rey couldn’t help but laugh, Ben’s admission took a heavy weight off her shoulders. _‘Maybe it’s okay to not be good at everything’_ She thought smiling up at him. “Well the best test is next. Students lately have been calling it the power test.” Ben led Rey further down the hall and entered another room holding the door for her. It was like a small gymnasium, she noticed that there was a square plot of dirt and rocks in one corner, while the other held a small square pool, she couldn’t make out what the other equipment was but she was starting to feel a little intimidated again.

“Ah Miss. Rey” It was Mister Luke, her eyes lit up as she looked to him with a bright smile. “I’ll be conducting your test today okay.” He gave her a wink and took her hand leading her back towards the plot of dirt. “We know you can make things grow with water, but I need to see how it works and if you can do anything else. So, when you grow do you need seeds?” Rey nodded. “Can you grow me something here in this dirt?” Luke asked her a packet of unmarked seeds. “I want you to focus on what you feel okay?”

Rey nodded. She took a deep breath in shaking the seeds out of the paper pack and into her hand. She didn’t know a lot about seeds but she couldn’t help but wonder what she would like to grow. She couldn’t help but envision the garden she’d saw that morning, the hydrangea’s and tulips, the little orange and red flowers she’d seen. She thought about how the dramatic tulips tried talking her into giving them extra water and she couldn’t help but giggle.

Luke nearly dropped his pen as he watched before him the plot of dirt turned into a blooming garden, but more wild appearing. She hadn’t even bothered dropping the seeds in the dirt and the flowers grew.  They seemed to grow where they pleased instead of in tidy rows, he couldn’t help but think that in a way it looked better she’d made it. He’d really gotten confused when he heard her giggling to herself, most students would have to use all their attention to get one sprout to appear but here she was untrained making a garden of her own before his eyes. Ben’s jaw hung open at the colors and variety of plants that appeared, how could she be doing so much?

Rey finally opened her eyes and giggled again. “It’s just how I thought it should be!” She couldn’t help herself she wanted to sniff and pet every flower. Luke and Ben watched her for a few minutes as she whispered to the garden giggling every now and again like she’d been told a joke.

“Rey, come here a minute please?” Luke called and she politely excused herself from the tulips she was complimenting and stood before him. “Does that make you tired? Growing the plants? How does it make you feel?” Her mouth twisted and eye brows pinch as she tried to formulate the right words for her feelings.

“It doesn’t make me tired all the time, it makes me happy” She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world, but when she noticed Luke still looking at her for more information she continued. “um, it’s like my heart is glowing and extra warm, I can feel the warmth reach my toes and my fingers. Sometimes when I keep my eyes closed I can see the star that burns inside me.” Luke watched as she put her hands over her heart and took a calm deep breath in closing her eyes. She seemed so at peace.

“Hm.. Okay” Luke wrote something down on a pad of paper in his hands. Her description of a star burning sounded familiar, he would have to dig through his files to find who else had a similar experience. “How about water next?” Rey hesitated.

“Mister Luke, I can’t swim” She said candidly looking up at him the fear quite evident on her face.

“I know it can be scary, but come see at least. We’re going to put some sensors on you that will monitor how your body reacts to the water. This also acts as an air test too, most students who can manipulate the wind can breathe underwater, I know that sounds crazy doesn’t it?” Rey agreed, if she could breathe underwater she wouldn’t have anything to fear. Rey had to go dress in a standard issue swim suit while Ben and Luke prepped the machine, when she came out they were ready to go. Luke pressed different colored sensors on different parts of her body vaguely explaining what each one would monitor, Rey was too busy thinking about being in the pool to listen.

“Alright right just ease yourself in slowly, Ben and I are right here” It did make her feel better to have Luke’s reassurance, so she did as he said. She started by letting her feet dangle into the water and with a deep breath she slid the rest of her body down into the pool. She didn’t have a good grip on the concrete edge and slipped all the way into the pool her head slipping beneath the surface. Ben was on his knee’s in an instant grabbing her hand and pulling her back and placing her hands back on the wall. She clenched both of her tiny hands around one of his big ones. “You’re doing great Rey just a few more minutes okay.” Luke called from the computer connected to the machine with the sensors.

“You’re okay” Ben whispered to her when he noticed her hands trembling in his. She smiled at him and nodded.

“Okay Rey, I need you to go underwater again but this time I need you to stay down as long as you can” Luke looked to her and she bit her lip.

“but I can’t swim Mister Luke” Her trembling had grown into full on shaking now. “I will try” She said after pausing for a minute. She didn’t want to be afraid anymore and she trusted Ben and Luke to take care of her. Yes, she could do this.

“okay, ready?” Luke called and Rey nodded.

“It’ll be okay, just take a deep breath” Ben coached giving her hand a squeeze, she nodded at him with a smile.

“Alright, now” Luke said pushing a couple buttons and Rey let go of the edge using it to push herself under the water.

Rey was never allowed to be in contact with water much as she grew up. She didn’t remember ruining Plutt’s bathroom but he insisted she nearly drown herself and him and the thought terrified her. She wasn’t even allowed to have a tall glass of water when she needed, she had to use small paper cups. Plutt told her any direct contact with water other than watering the plants would get her in serious trouble and maybe even killed. He’d threatened her with it so often that she’d grown to hate and fear it, that is until Ben showed her pictures of the beaches and told her that she would be able to learn to swim. Could she really? Was it dangerous for her to be in water if he was there to help her? No, there was no way Ben would let anything happen to her, she believed that he really would do what it took to keep her safe.

“Ben, when you gave Rey a bath the other day did anything… weird happen?” Luke asked him not taking his eyes off his computer. Ben shrugged keeping his eyes on Rey beneath the surface.

“No, she said she’d never taken a bath before so I filled the tub and she was so dirty she needed to shower after that. Nothing weird happened though” At least nothing he noticed. “She was pretty timid about getting wet though”

“We might have something here” Luke his eye finally and Ben could see a strange combination of emotions one of them being fear.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to upload this chapter for two days but the formatting just hasn't been friendly with me. If you're reading this it means it worked! (or I gave up) please enjoy!

**Chapter 5**

                Rey didn’t like being underwater. She couldn’t help but think of Plutts threats to punish her should she ever be caught playing in such a high valued resource. Even though she was thousands of miles away from her cruel guardian she still felt like she was breaking the rules and it made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t even aware of how much time she was spending below the surface.

“Is she breathing?” Ben was beginning to worry for his padawan as she stayed below the surface so long. He’d never seen anyone stay below the surface for so long, he himself was quite adept in the water but would have had to come to the surface by now. When his uncle didn’t answer he walked around the small pool to look at the monitor for himself. He hadn’t been trained to understand all the numbers but he could see she was stable and as he pointed to a couple of numbers looking to Luke he asked. “Does this say the water is responding to her?”

“I’ve never seen this before” Luke muttered typing away at the key pad scrolling through more of the numbers on the screen. “I need to make some phone calls.” The old man was mostly talking to himself now as he ripped the findings off a printer next to the monitor. “I’m not entirely sure if she’s human Ben” And for the first time Luke looked to Ben and both looked down into the pool of water.

“Then what is she?” Ben wasn’t really understanding what his uncle was implying. They had the test logs of thousands of people in the school systems, never had anyone come out as being inhuman and if she wasn’t human what did that make her?

“I don’t know, get her out of there. Why don’t you go into town and get her more things she’ll need? She’ll need more casual clothes and some good sneakers” Luke was shifting gears faster than Ben could keep track. “I’m going to make some phone calls, I think I know someone who can help me figure this out” Luke was heading out of the room before Ben could ask any more questions. “Oh and Ben” He said turning back to his nephew. “Don’t tell anyone about this until I can find out more. You can take my truck into town but don’t cause any trouble.” With that the man disappeared mumbling to himself about the weird test results.

Ben bent down to the pool and helped pull Rey out of the water. She was confused to see the two of them were alone now, where had Mister Luke gone?

“go get dried off and changed, Luke asked me to take you into town and pick you up some more things you’ll need for school” Rey just nodded and went off to do what she was told returning several minutes later back in her uniform with her hair as dried as she could get it.

“Is something wrong?” Rey asked looking up at Ben as they head back towards the main campus building. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed, maybe she’d done something during the tests?

“Huh? Oh no, nothing is wrong” Ben said smiling down at her but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m going to run up to my dorm and change real quick. Can you sit down here by the fountain until I get back?” Ben hated wearing his uniform when they went out in public, people would point and whisper about the teaching that went on at the academy even though no one outside of the school knew the real teaching there it still made Ben uncomfortable to be made a spectacle, and local kids usually weren’t to kind when it came to the students at the Skywalker Academy for the Gifted.

Rey hopped up on the edge of the fountain admiring the garden across the walk way. It must be early afternoon now as the summer students had woken up and were crowding the walkways and benches.

“So you’re the knew baby on campus huh?” A snotty voice broke Rey from her thoughts and she saw the blonde girl Ben had talked to yesterday approaching her followed by a girl with a black bob and another blonde.

“ugh hi, I’m Rey” Rey did her best to smile at them kindly but the tall girls made her nervous.

“aw how cute” The shorter blonde cooed. “How old are you sweetie?” She asked stepping closer to Rey, this one had kinder eyes than the other too but they all wore matching uniformed lined with red.

“Eight” Rey said quietly leaning back a little to keep more distance between herself and them.

“Eight? And she’s Ben’s knew padawan?” It was the dark haired on that asked that time looking to the taller blonde for confirmation.

“That’s what Ben said” The snotty voiced girl replied rolling her eyes. “New water student or whatever. I’m Ronnie practically Ben’s girlfriend. So where are you from kid?” Ronnie cleared her throat as the other two girls with her snorted as she tried to pass herself off as Ben’s girlfriend.

“I came from the desert” Rey spoke softly with a tone that lacked confidence. She couldn’t help but notice how beautiful all three of the girls in front of her were, she couldn’t help but notice how their skirts were rolled up showing off a lot more of their tanned legs. Rey looked down at her own skin and realized how pale her skin was by comparison.

“They found a water nymph in the desert of all places? Christine must have had a hard time finding you” The black haired girl commented. “I’m Sierra” Like the other blonde this girls tone seemed much kinder as she held a hand out for Rey to shake. Rey smiled up at her and gave her hand a soft squeeze.

“Wow your nails are so pretty!” Rey noticed a shimmering red coating on the girls long pointed nail. She held out her own hand comparing her stubby broken nails to the polished shine of the other girls.

“Thanks, if you can get your nails to grow we could paint them for you” Sierra offered.

“oh! How cute we could give you a whole make over! Ronnie can we do it please?” It was the shorter blonde gushing now about how they could do her hair and make up and dress her up.

“I guess” Ronnie sighed before a smirk coated her glossy lips. “That would be a great idea. I bet Ben would love to see you all dolled up!” Rey didn’t care much for the kid of smile Ronnie wore now.

“oh I don’t know, I don’t have things like that” Rey commented quietly unsure.

“Don’t you worry we’ll take care of everything! I’m Lana by the way!” The gushing blonde said enthusiastically. “We’ll turn you into an eight year old heart breaker, can you imagine what the little boys will think!” She squealed.

“Forget the little boys, just think of Ben” Ronnie scoffed. “Why don’t you stop by my room tomorrow 237” It was more of a command than a question but Rey nodded reluctantly. “And don’t look so nervous it’ll be fun” And with that the girls all turned heading back into the main building planning whatever torture it was they’d do to Rey.

“What was all that about?” For the first time Rey noticed Ben’s dark haired friend she’d met the day before as he sat beside her on the edge of the fountain.

“They want to give me a make over?” It sounded more like a question coming from her lips than a statement. “I don’t know what that means but it sounds scary” Poe let out a hardy laugh and Rey looked up at him fear still lacing her eyes.

“I’m sure it’s just a way for Ronnie to find her way back in Ben’s bed, don’t let them scare you” Poe said smiling at her.

“Why does she want to be in Ben’s bed?” Rey noticed the slight look of horror that flashed across his eyes.

“Ugh well, that’s… You see” Poe stood back up stretching awkwardly as he tried to explain what he meant. “Ben is well he has a famous bed… It’s extra soft! Girls love Ben’s bed” Poe almost immediately groaned as the word vomit continued his explanation not really helping the situation at all.

“Oh” To Rey that made sense. “I want to sleep in the soft bed!” She said excited looking up at Poe. “Do girls like to sleep in your bed too?” Oh god Ben was going to kill him.

“I guess, but lets not talk about that okay” Poe stammered rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn’t used to being around kids this much younger than himself, he’d have to watch his mouth more than usual.

“Hey Poe!” Ben called as he headed towards them. “We’re heading into town to pick up a few things wanna come?”  He had changed and had a set of keys in his hand.

“of course man! You’ll never guess who I” Poe paused briefly looking down at Rey as they headed towards Luke Skywalkers pick up in the parking lot. “Who I saw at the bonfire last night” He continued shifting his tone slightly giving Rey a sweet smile. “Eritae decided to come enjoy the party”

Rey zoned out of their conversation as Poe spoke awkwardly about some girl he had been crushing on. She let her mind wander back to whatever makeover it was she might be receiving. Ben and Poe continued their discussion about the beach party as Ben asked Poe is he managed to get lucky, whatever that meant. Ben helped Rey up into Lukes old beat up truck and they head off in the direction of the next town over to go to the mall.

Poe talked about his luck with the girl he had been crushing on and said he also got lucky with one of the boys a year older. He went on about how crowded the beach got and he saw a few people ‘getting it on’ in the lake. Rey realized she didn’t know what any of the things meant they were talking about but started paying a little more attention when Ben mentioned Jessika calling her ‘sexy’. That was a word Rey understood. She’d heard Junior use it a few times and some of Plutt’s friends.

One of Plutt’s drunk friends had even called her that once when he’d wandered out into the greenhouse after a late night of poker. The man had been skinny and was covered in sweat as stumbled towards her obviously having had a few beers to many. He’d been trying to talk Rey into taking her clothes off, convincing her she’d be sexy under all the layers she had on. Plutt had came out and pulled the man back to his house before things got any worse, he’d even given Rey a slap for tempting one of his old friends and called her a whore. Rey didn’t think being called sexy was a good thing until she heard Ben groan about Jessika and hoping she might go out with him someday.

Rey frowned as she looked down at her body, again comparing it to the girls she’d met earlier. She looked nothing like the other girls she had seen at the school so far, though she hadn’t met anyone her own age yet either.

“Can I go to the next party?” Rey asked looking up to the boys in the front seat. Ben swallowed hard and turned to Poe both of them looking shocked she was asking.

“Well you see parties aren’t for girls like you Rey” Poe attempted to explain, but Rey wasn’t really understanding what he meant. “The other kids at school are all older, you one of the smallest kids we’ve seen in a while” Rey wasn’t really understanding what he was explaining and all she was hearing were her own insecurities.

Junior had explained something similar to Rey once. He had brought one of his girlfriends into the green house so they could get high and screw around with each other. When Rey had asked him about it later he had said that she would never understand because only pretty girls were desired by boys. Being pretty wasn’t something she would ever have to worry about because she would never escape the green house or the Plutt family.

Rey was broken out of her thoughts as Ben pulled into a parking space and they all got out of the truck. Ben insisted on holding Rey’s hand as they entered the crowded mall. She was immediately overwhelmed by all the stores and people. Poe and Ben lead her into a store filled with bedroom things as Ben spouted off a list of things she would need, Rey didn’t know where to look as all the colors and stacked shelves demanded her attention all at once.

“Lets get you some bedding” Ben said as he lead her down an aisle with plastic bags stuffed with blankets. He pointed out some comforters that had Disney princesses on them but she pointed at one that had a colorful array of flowers and in the end Poe was left carrying her things as they made there way to the register. His arms were stuff with a bed set, a couple extra fluffy pillows and some towels for her bathroom. Rey had tried to tell Ben the stuff already in her room was fine, but he insisted she’d be more comfortable in her room if she had things she picked out for herself and she reluctantly agreed.

After getting things for her room they headed to another store down the hall that had books and school supplies. Rey had fun picking out some sparkly notebooks and folders with princesses on them. Ben even let her get a new book after he noticed her look at them from across the shop. He said he was happy to know she liked to read and that she could have whatever she wanted. Poe told him he was going to create a monster but Ben gave him a friendly smack on the back of his and Poe didn’t make any comments after that.

The next store was where they started running into problems. Ben told Rey she needed a pair of sneakers, but her eye was stuck on a pair of gold glittery sky high heels.

“Why do girls wear shoes like that?” She asked looking up at Ben.

“High heels are smoking” Poe interrupted. “They make your ass look good” He added without thinking. Rey couldn’t help but think her own body was so boring, maybe the tall shoes would make her look better.

“Poe!” Ben hissed as he noticed the sad look Rey had in her eyes.

“I don’t think you boys are qualified to be giving fashion advise” A voice called behind them. It was Christine the tall blonde that had picked them up from the airport.

“Oh thank god you made it, we have everything else taken care of she just needs a couple outfits. I don’t understand the sizes” Ben explained looking up at her. He had texted Christine asking about where to get clothes for a little girl when she offered to meet up with them and help them finish their shopping. “Rey can you pick out some clothes with Chris while we go put all these bags in the truck?” Rey looked up at Christine nervously and then to Ben before nodding.

“Are you going to come back?” Rey asked swallowing heavy as she looked up at Ben. Maybe he was getting tired of her now, she couldn’t blame him especially after hearing the boys talk about the other girls they usually hung around with, Rey by comparison felt she was very bland.

“Of course Rey! I think you’ll have more fun having Phasma help you find clothes anyway. We really don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to little girl clothes” Ben laughed smiling down at her. “Phas has my number she’ll tell us where we can meet you” Rey nodded still feeling unsure. She decided she didn’t like being referred to as a little girl anymore. So she was little, why was that a big deal?

“Can I get shoes like those?” Rey asked looking up at Phasma as she pointed to the glittering high heels on display. Phasma’s face twisted in confusion as she looked over to Ben and Poe.

“Those would be almost impossible to walk in, why do you want a pair of high heels?” Ben had never heard Phasma speak so softly and she looked from the tall shoes back down to Rey.

“Poe said they’d make my ass look good” She repeated and Poe choked on a gasp.

“That really wasn’t what I meant” He managed giving Phasma a sheepish smile. Hearing Rey repeat Poe’s previous statement sounded a lot worse than it had the first time for more reasons than one.

“Oh is that what you said Poe?” Christine glared across to Poe.

“Well not quite like that, no!” Poe gasped in horror looking down at Rey.

“But you said they’re hot” Rey couldn’t understand why he was denying what he’d said. Poe had been going on about hot girls all morning, why was it so different when Rey decided she wanted to be one of them too. Rey looked up at Ben and noticed a look like disappointment on his face, his cheeks her pink with embarrassment and he wouldn’t look at her. Rey thought she must have done something wrong. “I want to be pretty enough so you want me in your bed” Rey added looking up at Ben who’s look of horror only grew worse as she explained further. Poe’s eyes grew twice their size as Rey repeated what they had talked about earlier at the school.

“No Rey, no” Ben was sure Rey didn’t know what she was talking about the topic instantly made him feel sick to his stomach and he turned and left the two woman alone. He needed to get out of this situation. Ben wasn’t innocent when it came to his knowledge of the bedroom, in fact he’d taken more girls to his bed than he was willing to admit but he’d never been ashamed of himself until he saw the insecurities that reflected in Rey’s eyes. Where had she gotten an idea like that? She wanted to be pretty so Ben would want her? Surely she didn’t know what kind of attention she was asking for? Or did she? Ben could only think about where she had come from, she had slept on the dirt in a desert had one of them men she lived with implied she had to earn a place in their bed? The nauseous feeling in his stomach only got worse.

“It’s not how it sounds” Poe said running after. “She was talking to Ronnie earlier outside and I made a comment that Ronnie was only being nice to get back in your bed. I didn’t mean it like that Ben not with Rey” Ben nodded staying quiet. They were going to have to be more careful about the things they said around that little girl from now. She was obviously paying more attention than they thought and she didn’t know what she was talking about. If he needed to he’d pull Ronnie aside and set her straight.

Rey felt tears prickle her eyes as she watched Ben and Poe practically run away from her. She looked up at Christine who had a similar look of concern as she looked back down at Rey.

“Lets get you some clothes okay, you should only get things that you like though” Phasma explained. “Don’t worry about what Ben likes, or Poe. Especially Poe he’s an idiot!” She explained glaring behind her as they headed in the opposite direction of the boys. Christine lead Rey to the little girl section of Macy’s and they began looking through all the racks of clothes while Rey tried to understand what it was she liked.

“Is it bad that I want Ben to think I’m pretty too?” Rey asked looking up at Christine again. She didn’t understand why Ben ran away from her, did he think she was so ugly that she could never find something suitable?

“No hun, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be pretty” Phasma assured her as they looked through a few more racks of clothes. “You just have to find what you think is pretty, you don’t have to hurt yourself to try and look nice to someone else” Phasma pulled a shirt off the rack and held it up to Rey to get her opinion and shook her head.

“But I don’t know what is pretty.” She sighed feeling a bit defeated on their shopping trip.

“Well start small, what is your favorite color?” Phasma asked turning to smile down at Rey.

“I like yellow, and blue” Rey decided as she looked at the different colors on the racks. “And this kind of pink” She added picking up a tank top that was soft baby pink.

“That is a great start! Do you like dresses or pants more?” She asked as they looked at a rack filled with a variety of different colored leggings. Rey looked at the different styles before picking up a pair that was navy blue with pink flowers on it.

“I like these ones” Rey said turning to show Phasma the pants she had picked out looking up at the older woman for her approval.

“It’s all about what you like, you can wear anything you want as long as your comfortable Rey.” Rey nodded and then gasped as something behind Phasma caught her attention. Rey wandered of to a rack that held longer skirts made from tulle. Phasma held back a grimace at such girly garb but smiled when she noticed how Rey’s eyes light up.

“I could look like a ballerina in a skirt like that” Rey gasped looking up at Phasma. “Can I try one on Ms. Phasma? Please” This was the first time Rey seemed excited about clothes and who was Chris to tell her no.

“Anything you like Rey” She said with a smile. It was the first time Phasma saw Rey really taking the clothes around them serious and she looked between two of the skirts a soft pink one with gold trim and a baby blue one with silver. The little girl seems to genuinely struggle from one to the other. “Why not both?” Phasma suggested after another minute.

“That’s too much, I don’t need two” Rey said seriously, but Phasma could practically feel the desire she had for both of them.

“Rey it’s okay to get things just because you want them sometimes. If you like them both that much it’s okay” Phasma didn’t spend a lot of time with small children, but she’d never seen any person under the age of twenty with such a natural call for responsibility. Christine herself wasn’t one for excess but she didn’t like how Rey put so much weight into something that should be so easy.  After another minute of debating Rey finally picked up the blue and silver skirt.

After the great skirt debate picking out clothes got a little easier as Rey often looked up to Phasma for approval and a Phasma would agree as long as the things were age appropriate. Rey picked up a silver camisole with sequins on it to match her new ballerina skirt and decided that she had more than enough, as they went to the check out Phasma text Ben telling him to meet them downstairs at Macy’s.

Rey felt proud of herself for everything she picked out having about five outfits worth of clothes between her and Christine’s arms. She had even settled on a simple pair of black ballet flats after Phasma let her at least try on a pair of taller boots that she couldn’t quite keep her balance in.

The clothes filled up two shopping bags worth as they met up with Ben at the exit. Rey bounded towards him smiling. “Look at all these clothes Ben!” She exclaimed holding up the shopping bags to show him. In truth he had expected her to pick out more. He looked up at Christine and she gestured him to the side.

“Hey Rey why don’t you go show Poe your new clothes he sitting on a bench right outside okay?” Rey nodded happily skipping in the direction Ben had directed.

“You should have seen her Ben” He’d never heard Christine speak with such a heavy tone. “She fell in love with this skirt and was torn between two but she wouldn’t get them both no matter how I tried to encourage her, she said it was to much.” Every decision Rey had made was made with the weight of the world.

“She didn’t have anything Phas. She slept on the floor in a green house. You should have seen her when I gave her a glass of water the first night. She was to scared to even drink it all.” Ben sighed, he thought shopping would have been fun for her, but she was so worried about taking to much. “Can you go back and pick up the things she liked? She’s going to need more just a couple outfits, hopefully we can break her out of this shell eventually”

“You’re going to take good care of her right Ben? She can’t be like the other padawans, you can’t push her onto someone else” Chris knew Ben’s history. He had practically abandoned his last padawan when the teenager had asked Ben to help him with his homework. It shouldn’t have been a big deal but through a fit when he discovered that the younger student expected Ben to complete a whole project for him without any of his help. He left the boy in the care of Maz Kanata in the library and told his Uncle Luke that we wasn’t going to do someones homework for him just because he could be asked for help. That was what padawans expected to often, one had even tried to use Ben ask the reason his class work never got finished but none of the teachers were that gullible. Ben half wished that homework was the extent of the help Rey would need to fit in at the school, but she had no social experience what so ever, her previous comments about his bed had proved her to be more naïve than he thought and it worried him. Especially after Poe explained Ronnie was already making a pass to get at Rey just to get back with him.

Rey was going to be a bigger responsibility and he couldn’t blow off her questions or push onto someone else. After seeing how she treated small decisions like picking out clothes he realized that everything was important to Rey, every decision was made like it held the heaviest of consequences and it was going to take more patience than he was used to giving to break her of these habits.

“I’m going to pick her up a couple more things Ben, I’ll bring them by her room later or tomorrow. Just don’t make her feel bad about the choices she made okay?” Christine pat Ben on the arm. “And Ben, help her learn there’s more important things than being pretty okay. I don’t know what those men taught her but she thinks that is all she can be worth to you” The tall blonde left Ben as she decided to walk back over and grab one of those tulle skirts in every color the store had. Rey deserved more than she picked out for herself and she was going to make sure that little had everything she could ever want and then some.

Ben left the store and found Rey proudly displaying what he imagined to be the most important skirt he would ever see in his life. It made him smile to hear Rey gushing to Poe about how she was going to grow up to be the best ballerina she could be and the blue skirt made her even more excited to get to practice dancing. Poe encouraged her to twirl and skip as they walked back out to the truck and Rey took every liberty she could.

Ben quietly mentioned that Christine would meet them back at school later and mentioned the heavy decision that came with the blue skirt Rey couldn’t seem to put back in the bag holding it close to her chest like it was the most important thing in the world.

A quiet discussion between the two about not discussing parties or the other girls at school anymore in Rey’s presence and Poe agreed that Rey deserved to be praised more for her talents and spunk than her appearance.  Poe didn’t have a doubt in his mind that the little fire cracker would grow up to be the best ballerina in the world if that was what she put her mind too.

When they arrived back at the Academy Poe and Ben helped Rey take her new things up to her room. Ben put the new blankets and pillows on her bed while Poe helped Rey hang up her new clothes and organize them in drawers. Rey had to admit that Ben was right, she felt a lot more comfortable in the room now that it had more colors and a few personal touches.

Rey surprised Ben as she wrapped her arms around his hips giving him the biggest hug she could manage.

“Thanks Ben” She whispered before letting him go. “I think I can sleep in my bed by myself tonight” She added looking down at her hands. “But can I still see you tomorrow?” Her big golden eyes shined up at him and again he saw her fear of being left alone.

“Hey, if you don’t want to be alone Rey you don’t have to alright?” He reassured her wrapping an arm around her shoulder. He felt her relax next to him. Christine was right, he wouldn’t be able to leave her alone for long, he would have to take things at a pace she was comfortable in. He was all she really knew here anyway, she had every right to be scared and nervous.

“Hello?” A voice called from the door. “Oh hey guys! I was just going to see if Rey here wanted to join me for dinner?” It was Jessika Pava the kind girl Rey had met previously. Rey perked up as she smiled at Jessika.

“Can Ben and Poe come too?” The nerves Rey had held previously seemed to melt away when Jessika smiled and nodded.

“Of course! What did you guys get up to today?” Jess asked as she smiled down at Rey and the group of them headed down the hall towards the refectory, Ben was happy to hear Rey tell Jessika all about the good time she had shopping and picking out things for her room. Jess even offered Rey some extra advise on things to add and Rey was hypnotized by the idea of fairy lights making Jessika promise to show Rey the ones she had up on the walls in her room.

Ben was glad to see Rey take to Jessika so kindly, Jessika would make a way better role model than Ronnie or her friends and he could trust Jess not to fill Rey’s head with the idea that she needed to meet some kind of physical standard to be worthy of someones attention. Yes, Jessika would be an all around good role model for Rey.

Rey insisted on trying as many new things as she could find in the lunch line. She picked up a chicken sandwich, tater tots and as many fruits as her tray could hold. She even tried the variety of steam vegetables even though Poe made a face about the zucchini.

“Here Rey, you can’t have tater tots without trying ketchup too!” Poe insisted putting a little squirt on her tray and Rey agreed she needed to try everything! Jessika gave Rey a piece of her steamed salmon to try and seemed a little more hesitant about the pink colored meet but decided it was amazing.

Ben couldn’t help but laugh as Rey tasted as many things as she could, and when she was full he helped her get a box to take the left over fruit back upstairs to her room incase she wanted to snack on it later and liked that idea much more than throwing it away. Before they left the cafeteria Ben insisted there was one more thing Rey needed to try.

“I can’t believe you never had an ice cream!” Poe exclaimed as they headed over to the soft serve machine.

Rey didn’t understand what the big deal but the three older kids were excited for her to try it so she figured it must be good. Ben insisted she try vanilla as her first real flavor and that she could add any of the toppings from the desert bar she wanted. Rey was overwhelmed by all the choices from different colored candies and syrups so decided maybe just the ice cream by itself would be a better start. Jessika agreed getting herself a cone of chocolate soft serve leaving it plain as well. Rey gave her cone a small lick and gasped at the cold soft flavor. She looked up at Ben and Jess with a big smile on her face.

“It’s so sweet!” She exclaimed taking another lick really savoring the flavor this time.

“Y’all are boring” Poe insisted as he loaded bowl with different flavors of ice cream and toppings. “You stick with me kid I’ll teach you the best ways!” He added giving Rey a friendly wink.

“Do you want to walk down to the beach Rey?” Ben asked remembering his promise to show her the lake. Her eyes glowed up at him as if he’d just offered her the world.

“can we please?” She asked and Ben smiled the four of them heading outside. The sun was just beginning it’s decent over the horizon as the path opened up to the yellow sand beach the waves of lake Michigan providing a symphony to their quiet walk. Rey couldn’t help but run out onto the sand as she stared out at the expansive lake. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, the pictures and television program didn’t due the blue waters justice.

“So she’s never seen a lake before?” Jess asked looking up at Ben as they watched her approach the spot where the waves stopped on the shore.

“No, she said her foster father never gave her so much as a glass of water after he figured out what she could do.” Ben noticed a tear in Jess eye as the young moved to brush away.

“How can people treat someone like that?” Jess shook her head as they watched Rey stare towards the horizon.

“Uncle Luke said they probably couldn’t see her as human, just a tool” But Ben shrugged because he couldn’t understand it either.

Rey turned back towards them. “Can I touch it?” Her voice had grown small again, as she was unsure. It was then Ben remembered how she had feared the pool of water during her test earlier.

“Rey the lake is yours just as much as it is anyone elses” Jessika explained bending down on her knee’s. “Just be careful you see how the waves are moving towards us?”” Rey nodded as she looked back at the water and watched the waves run ashore. “Underneath the water is going the other way, if you go out to far the undercurrent will pull you out with it.” Ben couldn’t help the fond smile he had as Jessika explained the undertoe. He wouldn’t have thought to explain that to her and Jess made it so easy to understand, he couldn’t help his sigh in admiration. Yes, Jessika was incredible.

Poe nudged Ben in the shoulder and motioned for him to talk to Jessika. “I’ll keep an eye on Rey for a few” He added under his breath. Poe swooped down and picked Rey up right out of her flip flops and rushed her off towards the shoreline yet again. Rey giggling as he splashed into the waves with her. Ben looked after them for a minute and wondered if he should have told Poe about her fear but decided he didn’t have to worry when he was Rey laughing and scooping up water to splash Poe back.

“You’re really good with her” Ben admitted a soft blush forming on his cheeks. Jessika smiled up at him as she straightened herself back out.

“She just needs someone who isn’t afraid to talk to her” Jess said looking back out as Rey and Poe played in the shallow water. “You’re better with her than the others, she likes you Ben”

“I know, I don’t know why though” Ben said with a sigh as he leaned over and made a seat for himself in the sand.

“She’s lonely and I think she can tell that you are too” It was Jessika’s turn to blush now a color that the setting sun highlighted even more as she made herself a seat beside him.

“I am not lonely” He denied leaning back on his hands.

“No, not anymore” Jessika couldn’t help herself as she leaned over and rest her head on his shoulder. Ben looked towards her and couldn’t help but feel as if gravity was pulling them together, Jess meeting his eyes and leaning forward.

A scream from the water lined broke their attention and they both scrambled back to their feet rushing to see what had happened. It was Poe who had screamed near bloody murder as they approached his side they found Rey standing facing them a few out trembling. Her eyes held an earie blue glow her pupils lost in the color. Water was beaded around her floating in the air orbs the size of basketballs some even bigger, it was then Ben realize much of the shoreline had vanished revealing the sandy floor. The lake was levitating and it seemed to be under Rey’s command.

“B-ben” Rey trembled looking in his direction. “How do I make it stop?” She was frozen stiff to scared to move but Ben just shook his head.

“I don’t know Rey” He had never seen a power displayed at this magnitude before, he had a hard time pulling an orb of water out of the bath tub, this was more power than he even knew existed.

“We need Master Skywalker” Jessika breathed look up to see the water floating higher and higher. And then in an instant the bubbles of water all burst and came collapsing back into the sand creating a tsunami that forced all four of them further onto the shore.

“Rey!” Ben called forcing himself back to his feet his clothes and shoes now heavy with moisture. He found her across the beach unconscious in the sand. He rushed to her quickly making sure to check that she was still breathing and still had a pulse, Poe and Jessika keeping their distance a few feet back both just as soaked as he was. Ben picked her up cradling her to his chest as she limply fell against him.

“What was that?” Poe demanded looking panic stricken as he stared down at Rey in Ben’s arms. The three of them exchanged looks of shock.

“She picked up the lake, the whole lake” Jessika stuttered out in disbelief.

“Luke said he wasn’t sure if she was human” Ben admitted and Poe and Jessika both snapped their eyes to him.

“If she’s not human, what is she?” Jessika asked taking a step back. Ben had never seen the look of fear cross Jessika’s face like it was now. Ben had to admit he didn’t know what any of this meant.

None of the teenagers noticed the old man that had followed them down to the beach watching in the shadows. A man who had a good idea where it was this child was from and someone.

                                                                                                                                                                                  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story from here on out will be a little darker toned. I still have come cute fluffy moments planned too so don't despair :)   
> A chapter on Arthur and Mera having Rey may make an appearance but i'm still undecided. It just doesn't make sense with where the chapters are right now, but we'll see if i can shove it in somewhere.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow so this chapter kicked my ass. That's really the only way to put it. I know exactly how I want Snoke to be portrayed and this chapter really doesn't do justice to the him that I see BUT it is setting me up to write him better. Please be patient with me.

**Chapter 6**

                Rey awoke in a dark quiet room, blinking slowly before sitting up she found probes stuck to her chest and monitors beeping rhythmically at her side. The beeping quickened as soon as she looked around and realized she was alone.

_‘You’re just fine little one, lay down’_ A voice whispered in her mind. She knew that, but who was it? Where was she again? Then she remembered Ben.

“Mister Luke?” She asked in a whisper looking around again. She was met with silence, but she felt less panicked as she remembered coming to Luke’s school and meeting so many nice people here.

_‘you’re just a science experiment. If the government catches you they’ll lock you up and run tests on you until they figure out how you work’_ A memory from Unkar Plutt flashed into her mind. She had tried to run away once, she’d managed to get into town before Plutt figured out she was gone only to be caught by a man who told her she needed to go back home. Rey had refused and told him she couldn’t go back she needed to go home but she couldn’t remember where her home was but she knew it wasn’t with the Plutt and against her will the man had forced her into his car and back to the Plutt house.

Rey didn’t believe she remembered it exactly as it happened because she’d never told the man who she was or where she’d lived but he seemed to have known, returning without question.  It was then Plutt had resorted to telling her all the awful things people would do if they discovered what she was, what she could do. She’d be a science experiment, someones pet, they would cut her open and keep her alive until she begged to die. He put the shock band on her not long after that, telling her he was keeping her safe. It was all for her own good, and part of her believed it.

The feeling someone out there looking for her faded over time, the thought that she had a family somewhere in the world was tucked away when Junior told her the story of how she came to live with them.

Junior told her it was the only time he’d ever seen rain in the desert, the day she appeared to them. A man delivering a crying little girl who they’d guessed was only a few months old. He demanded they take her and raise her. Junior told her that the man looked crazy, white hair pressed flat against his scalp from the rain spouting on about making sure they had the means to provide for her over the years and as long as she grew up doing what she was told they’d never need anything.

Unkar Plutt being the greedy man he was would never turn down the opportunity to make money, he saw this tiny child as a check in the bank his greed only grew when instead of money the man gave him a handful of gold coins.

Rey didn’t know what deal was struck after that, but Unkar in a way kept his promise, but after she’d shown signs of powers Unkar had freaked out. He created the greenhouse in the back yard in the middle of his junkyard and kept her hidden away there. Now that Rey thought back on the story maybe Unkar had been more afraid of her in the end than she was of him. What would that man do now that she was no longer with her appointed guardian? Was he her father? Did he hate her? She had so any questions to ask and no one who had the answers she needed.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Luke Skywalker entered her room.

“How are you feeling Rey?” He asked taking a seat beside the bed she was in offering her a soft smile, but Rey didn’t answer she just looked down at her hands. She was ashamed of what had happened on the beach, surely Luke Skywalker would send her back, she’d never find her family, she’d never see Ben again. “Hey, don’t worry Rey. You’re part of our family now” Luke insisted putting a hand on her own. The action had Rey looking up at him confused. “I don’t usually take to reading the mind of my students, but I’ve been keeping a close watch on you sense Poe dragged me from office saying you were here. He said you displayed some power” Luke’s eyes were light and not filled with any fear or worry about what she had done. It made Rey feel a bit better about the situation.

“I didn’t mean too” She whispered. “I don’t know what happened, I was splashing Poe and then the water was flying. I could feel it Mister Luke, but I couldn’t let it go” She didn’t know how to explain the feeling to him. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure quite how to explain it to herself. It was as if the water just answered to a call she had, like it was speaking a foreign language she could speak but not understand.

“We’re going to help you understand it Rey, you don’t need to be afraid.” Luke assured her giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

“When I was young I could hear whispers coming from all around me except no one was speaking. I thought I had lost my mind, I was to scared to ask for help it wasn’t until the man who taught me everything I know found me and helped me that I learned what it meant. We’re all different Rey, but we can still help each other. It is going to take time and it won’t be easy, but if you promise to work hard you will be able to control this gift you have.” Luke promised her with the kind smile he shared with her so many times before. She trust him and she didn’t want to hurt anyone so she promised.

“I’ll do anything Mister Luke. Please just let me stay?” Luke would have laughed if her plea hadn’t been so heart breaking.

“Students have made their own decisions to leave Rey, but no one has ever been forced out of Skywalker Academy.” She gave him a soft smile showing she believed him. “Why don’t you rest here for the night, tomorrow you and I will get started okay?” He noticed the scared look that crossed her eyes.

_‘but the shadow man’_ She couldn’t help but think of the nightmare she’d had the day before. The man who’d held her down and threatened to take whatever the star was that burned inside her.

It had been years since Luke had heard that name mentioned. He written off a long time ago as a nightmare the children had spread around the academy years ago. Rey was the youngest student at the academy in ages most student now starting at 13 a much better age mentally for kids to leave home often having spent month or in some cases years knowing they would end up at Skywalker academy.

“Rey, who’s the shadow man?” Rey looked up at him partially surprised he’d asked. “Have you thought of him before you came here?” When she shook her head he pressed further. “Did one of the other students tell you about him?” Now a more panic looked crossed her features.

“He’s real?” Luke shook his head immediately to deny it, but the fear in her eyes as her hand held her chest was so honest he didn’t think that would help.

“The academy used to let younger students your age in, but the separation from their families caused a lot of fear. The shadow man isn’t real Rey its just the bad thoughts in your head projecting themselves onto your new surroundings.” It would have made sense if Rey had believed it, but something told her that Luke Skywalker himself didn’t completely believe what he was saying either.

“HE spoke to me” She said softly not meeting his eye. “He wanted the star in me, he said he would take it” That was different than the usual claims Luke heard. Some students had claimed the shadow man just watched them, others said it would tempt them with the things they wanted most. Even a few students had been tempted, Ben had been one of them. Luke shook those thoughts from his mind, Ben wasn’t in that place anymore and they’d gotten rid of the shadow man by setting up a better transferring system to the school. Rey was just a little girl who was scared of the dark, nothing more than that.

“One of my colleagues can help you sort out your nightmares. If I send him in will you talk to him?” Rey didn’t see why not so she nodded in agreement. “Good,  Professor Snoke is a nice man. His gifts are a lot like my own. I’ll send him in later, why don’t you get some rest before then though alright?” Rey nodded again burrowing under the blankets getting comfortable or at least as comfortable as she could manage as Luke left.

Rey couldn’t help but feel restless as she rolled around trying to find a comfortable position on the medical mattress. She really didn’t want to be alone, she thought her life here would be different in the sense she wouldn’t have to be alone anymore. She knew that was an unreasonable thought, she couldn’t have someone at her side all the time but that didn’t mean she didn’t yearn for company.

After another five minutes trying to get comfortable enough to take a nap she gave up and flicked the on button on the remote for the television at the foot of her bed. TV wasn’t a privilege she was allowed with the Plutt’s, but maybe it would give her the extra push she needed to fall asleep. Rey pushed her hair back as she flicked through the channels not really sure what would interest her, she couldn’t help but stop when she found a show dedicated to people making cupcakes. She was mystified in how these people could just throw all these things into a mixer, scoop them out and bake them and have these delicious looking cakes. She remembered the ice cream she tried and couldn’t help but wonder if she could have a cupcake some day too! Maybe one with pink frosting like the young man was making, what would pink taste like? The more she watched the more she wondered! Someone had put salmon in a cupcake, she’d likes Jessika’s salmon why wouldn’t it be good in a cake too? Rey wasn’t sure how much time had passed but eventually a knock came from the outside of her door.

“Hello?” A voice creaked out immediately taking her attention away from the baked goods on the screen.

“Hello?” She called back uncertain, and as the door opened a tall old man appeared in the doorway greeting her with a soft smile.

“You must be Rey, I’ve heard a lot about you from master Skywalker, my name is Eric Snoke, but you can call me professor Snoke” He took a step towards her and held out one of his gray, wrinkled hands and Rey accepted it gently. His skin against hers was like ice, she couldn’t help but pull her hand back.

“Now do you mind if I ask you a few questions to get us started?” Professor Snoke asked going around to her bed side to sit in a chair beside her. Rey looked up at him quietly waiting.

“How old are you Rey?” Snoke asked pulling a notebook and pen from the briefcase he’d brought in with him.

“Um, well I think I’m eight but no one knows what my real birthday is so it’s just a guess” She confessed softly folding her hands in her lap.

“Alright, who did you live with before coming to Skywalker Academy?” This time his eyes left his paper to gage her reaction over her previous guardian.

“I lived with Mr. Plutt and his son Junior. I lived in a greenhouse in Plutt’s junk yard” The way his lip curled at what she said Rey couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed of how her situation had been.

“Do you know anything about your family or where you may have come from?” Snoke asked taking one of her hands with his own giving it a soft squeeze. Rey was sure he meant to be comforting but the look in his eye told her he was fishing for something.

“I’ve never seen them, I don’t think“ She whispered looking away. “But sometimes I have dreams and I know they’re there! I can feel them and it’s like they’re so close and they’re-“ Her building excitement deflates in a quick flash. “It’s silly, but they’re always on this island and they’re waiting for me to find them”

“on an island? How interesting, what is this island like?” Snoke asked, taking notes on his notepad.

“Well it’s surrounded by an ocean and it’s got tall cliffs and there’s green grassy fields” She rattled on explaining the island of her dreams.

“Hm that is very interesting, is there anything else I should know?” He inquired tapping his pencil on his pad of paper.

“Well, there is one thing” She looked down at her hands, her nerves getting the better of her. “I kind of told Ben but I don’t think he really believed me.” Her disappointed tone caught him off guard. Rey had been practically worshipped the ground Ben walked on, but he had done something that upset her? Snoke saw an opportunity and decided to start a wedge between mentor and apprentice.

“Well Ben is still young, he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. What is it child I’ll listen” The bright smile she gave him was all the assurance he needed that she trusted him. A good start.

“Well the plants, sometimes they talk to me” She said quietly. “Not like words but they convey their feelings to me or sometimes they ask for help” She added.

“You’re saying you talk to the plants?” Snoke had to admit, he hadn’t expected that. He knew it was important he support her but they didn’t even have any growers that could communicate with the plants, how could this desert rat of a child?

“Yes, they’re quite the gossips” She giggled.

“Hm that is very interesting, I’ve never met someone who could talk to the flowers before. When you’re feeling better we’ll have to take a walk through the gardens. I’d like to see and understand” Rey’s eyes filled with hope as she nodded.

“Of course! Anything to help!” Snoke couldn’t help the grin that spread across his lips.

“I was hoping you’d say something like that” He gave her a soft pat on her shoulder before standing. “Well I have to prepare some things for our next session. I’ll get you in your room when I’m ready for you, okay?”

Rey nodded with a soft smile. “Thank you Mr. Snoke”

"Of course, if you ever need anything come find me” He made for the door turning briefly. “And lets not tell Ben we’ve talked, Mr. Solo and I don’t see eye to eye and it’s caused us both problems in the past, lets keep him out of trouble okay?” Rey nodded quickly, trouble for Ben was the last thing she wanted.

As Snoke left the room Rey felt herself being compelled to close her eyes. It was a strange feeling she hadn’t been tired at all and suddenly her eyes wouldn’t stay open and she drifted off into a dream.

The dream started off as it always did, she was standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. She took a deep breath in enjoying the sea air as the wind blew her hair over her shoulder. Then things began to change, the sky filled with clouds as it started to rain. Then she heard a voice calling her “Rey”

It was the voice of a woman, soft and kind. “Rey” it called again. She couldn’t help but turn to find it. Following the calling she climbed down to a plateau below the cliff she’d stood on and found a pit. The energy that oozed out of the hole was dark and cold, but the voice still called her from inside.

“Mom?” Her voice shook with uncertainty. This didn’t feel right, why would this cavity of despair appear before her in her dreams now? Had she done something wrong? A gust of wind broke her train of thought and tipped her over the edge into the nexus before her.

Rey picked herself up off the ground and looked around getting back on her feet. She was surrounded by what looked like walls made of crystal, but it was so smooth and shiny she could see herself looking back at her.

“Hello?” She called, but the only voice that called back was her own. “M-mom” The dark energy of the pit felt like it was digging into her bones trying to reach her heart. She was ready to give up and find her way out after several moments of silence.

“Rey” Her eyes snapped to the crystal mirror in front of her where she could see a tall silhouette on the other side.

“Hello?” She called again rushing to meet the figure and finally the haze of the mirror faded and she could see the woman on the other side. She was tall and beautiful with rich brown hair that looked like her own and brown eyes. Rey stared at her for several minutes before taking a step back, this wasn’t right. She didn’t have any memories of her mother, but the woman in front of her doesn’t feel right.

“Who are you?” All the excitement Rey had felt moments ago faded into dread and once again she could feel the dark energy of the chasm trying to eat away at her, and it was working. As she looked up at this woman who she just knew couldn’t be her mother she was filled with an awful sense of hopelessness.

“Why did you leave Rey? I came back for you and you were gone” The womans words didn’t line up with her mouth, like a bad voice over. As the woman stepped forward Rey stepped back. “Don’t be afraid darling, isn’t this what you wanted?” The woman reached out and grabbed Rey by the arm pulling her in for a hug. The womans grasp was cold and reflected the same dark energy of the room around her. There was nothing maternal or loving about the way this woman was holding her, Rey felt like she was in a cage more than an embrace as she tried to pull back. This woman, this creature was unrelenting holding Rey to her with an iron grip that only seemed to tighten until Rey felt like she couldn’t breathe. It was then she noticed the shadow of a man approaching them from behind in the crystal mirror.

“Ben?” She whispered as his form approached. He was wearing a wide toothy smile that didn’t fit on his face, similar to how the womans voice didn’t line up with her lips Ben’s features didn’t seem to be positioned quite right on his face.

“Rey you found your family” The voice wasn’t quite right either it matched the demented smile on his face but none of it seemed to match Ben as she knew him. “I can finally get back to my life, you’ll be gone soon” the chipper attitude of his tone didn’t change to match his cruel words. “you’re such a waste of time, a waste of space. We didn’t want you here. You’re not smart enough to be with us” She tried pushing away from the woman again as Ben stopped and put his hand on her shoulder. “No one want you”

_‘A dream’_ Rey thought as she opened her eyes finding herself in the med room once again. She had dreamt of the island thousands of times but never had it become something so dark and scary, never had anyone else made an appearance in the dream before. She decided she wasn’t going to stay in this room any longer as she hopped out of the bed wobbling a little on her tired legs. As she started pulling the sticky probes off her skin the monitor overhead started to beep and within a minute a woman appeared through the door demanding to know what she was doing.

“I can’t stay here” Was all Rey had to answer still feeling unsettled by the nightmare.

“Are you feeling okay?” The young womans tone went from frustrated to concerned in a flash and Rey wondered if this woman could read her mind like Luke had.

“I had a bad dream, I just want to go back to my room” Rey decided honesty was her best path to getting what she wanted and her instinct proved right when the woman sighed and helped Rey remove the rest of the probes.

“I understand that, these beds are terrible” As they the last probe vanished into the trash the nurse made over to the other side of the room and reappeared with Rey’s uniform, something Rey hadn’t even thought about though now that she looked down at the papery hospital gown she was glad to have real clothes to put on. “It looked like you just suffered from some severe exhaustion from using all that energy. Try and take it slow, no strenuous activity for a few days alright? And if you feel any kind of sick come straight back here so we can check you out” she demanded sternly but not unkindly and Rey nodded thanking her as she slid her uniform on awkwardly around the gown.

Finally Rey left the medical wing only to realize she was back on the first floor of the main building of the school. She was grateful she knew her way around at least a little bit from here. It was dark outside the windows overhead but it must not have been to late because plenty of students were still wandering the halls and sitting in the common area. She wondered where Ben was she passed cafeteria deciding to go inside when her stomach rumbled. As she fixed herself a plate she thought back over her dreams. What if she was a burden on Ben, too much trouble and he was only being polite by helping her around or doing it because Mister Luke said he had too. She sat down at a table by herself and found herself staring at her plate of food but to lost in thought to start eating.

“It’s better if you eat it while it’s hot you know” A voice said as the chair next her slid from its place under the table and a boy sat down beside her. He was the youngest person beside herself she’d seen here so far. “I’m Finn! You’re new here right?” He held his hand for her to shake but being still caught up on her thoughts she only put her hand in his lightly. “you caused that commotion down at the beach yesterday yeah?” He asked, he was smiling at her and his big brown eyes showed only kindness and curiosity so she nodded.

“yeah, I’m Rey” She said shyly giving him a closed lip smile of her own.

“Well you’re all anyone can talk about now!” And it was for the first time that Rey realized the other students in the cafeteria were staring at them, well her. As she looked around their heads turned away from her, the few students paying her no mind were busy chatting or studying while they ate.

“Oh" She swallowed thickly starting to feel insecure.

“I overheard Poe Dameron telling Snap Wexley he had never seen anything like it before” Finn gushed seeming to be very impressed by her unintentional act on the beach. “even heard that Master Skywalker doesn’t think you’re entirely human!”

“What?” Rey asked her eyes meeting his the shock on her face told him he had said something he shouldn’t have.

‘I-it’s only a rumor. They spread around all the time, it’s probably not true” Finn tried backtracking but Rey wasn’t buying it.

“Do you know where Ben’s room is?” Rey took a moment to look around the cafeteria again, this time any of the students didn’t bother diverting their gaze. Some gave her looks of uncertainty while others glared at her. She was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic being surrounded by people she didn’t know.

“Do you mean Ben Solo?” The grimace on his face told Rey that he wasn’t once of Ben’s friends. “Why do you want to see him?” The disgust on his face was reflected in his voice.

“He’s my friend?” It came out more unsure than she intended sounding like a question more than a statement. He was her friend right? He has promised to take care of her. She squirmed in her seat as the insecurities from earlier flooded her mind again. She put her hand on her chest as she felt it tighten, why couldn’t she breathe clearly anymore.

“Whoa, whoa!” Finn called. “you’re alright, he’s your friend I’ve just never talked to a friend of his before” Finn explained. “We’re kind of on the opposite end of the social latter, I’m not exactly the cool kid around here” He put his head down like he was ashamed to admit that.

“you seem pretty cool to me” Rey said, trying to reassure him that his social status didn’t matter to her but the anxiety attack she was having had her words come out ore like gasps.

“Okay yeah, I’ll show you his room. We have to be quiet though it’s already after hours and neither of us need that kind of trouble” He put his hand on hers and gave her a sweet smiles and somehow the gesture helped Rey feel more calm.

“Right, the less trouble the better” She agreed giving him a weak smile back. The two stood from their seats discarding their hardly touched plates and Rey fallowed him down a corridor she hadn’t ventured into yet. Finn slowed as he peaked around a corner then quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her around the corner down the hall and through a doorway and a barely lit stairwell.

“No one uses the back staircase unless they’re heading out to the athletic fields” He explained as he started going up the stairs. “I’m not sure exactly which room is Ben’s but I know he’s down this hall at the top floor.” Finn added as they climbed another flight of stairs. Rey nodded using all her focus to get up the stairs in one piece and to stay calm. She felt a lot better being out of the cafeteria but the anxious feeling was still lingering in the back of her mind.

It took nearly five minutes for the young pair to reach the top of the stairs, but they made it both huffing a puffing to catch their breath. Rey had lost count how many flights it had been but the sign posted outside the stairwell door said Floor 8.

“Wait in here for a minute I’ll go see if I can figure out which room it is okay?” Finn commanded practically shoving her back into the stairwell. She sat down on the top step and tried to think of anything but the nightmare and the rumors. She was only partially successful as her mind wandering to her mother. What if her parents came looking for her while she was away? She didn’t leave on a good note would Plutt try and hurt them? Were they really aliens? Was she an alien? The questions wouldn’t stop popping up in her head, if she wasn’t human she had to be an alien right? What if she didn’t even have a family, she could be the last of her kind.

She jumped turning quickly as the stairwell door snapped opened revealing a smiling Finn. “Found him!” He seemed to be feeling much better about encountering Ben now than he had back in the café.

Rey stood and followed him silently down the hall until he stopped next to a door and motioned for her to knock.

“What if he doesn’t want to see me?” The look of fear and sadness that Finn saw in her eyes had him putting a hand on her shoulder.

“He’s your friend right?” It was his smile that reassured her more than his words and after a deep breath she knocked on his door.

Rey held her breath as she heard him coming to the door as he opened she nearly tackled him to the ground in a fierce hug.

“Rey?” He seemed surprised to see her. “Rey?” She was barely tall enough to pass his waist but he bent over wrapping his own arms around her, one of his hands threading through tangled hair.  He felt her trembling in his arms and it took him a minute to register that she was crying. “Sweet heart are you okay?” He pulled her back just enough so he could see her tear stained face and bend down on one knee giving her a proper hug.

“I was scared you didn’t want me anymore” She whispered burying her head in the crook of his neck.

“What, no Rey of course not! The nurse made us all get checked out and she wouldn’t let any of us see you” Ben explained holding her a little tighter against him as he lifted her up into his arms keeping her cradled against his chest. For the first time he noticed a younger boy there just next to his doorway looking up at him both in shock and awe. It was Ben’s first instinct to become defensive. “What do you want?” He snapped and Finn jumped back a little.

“N-nothing sir. Just making sure Rey is okay” He said diverting his eyes from Ben’s to the back of Rey’s head as if he was pleading for her to say something and of course after a couple sniffles she turned her head and gave him a smile.

“This is my friend Finn, he helped me find your room” She explained looking back to Ben. “People are talking about me and Finn is the only person who would sit with me in the cafeteria”

Ben bit the inside of his lip as he looked back down at the younger student again, this time appraisingly before his eyes softened just a smidge. “Well thank you Finn” Ben said after a minute of the awkward silence. He reached out his hand to the young man, who timidly took it shaking it firmly. “I’ll make sure she is alright” Ben added and Rey rest her head back down on his shoulder.

She liked being in Ben’s arms, she felt safe like nothing bad could reach her. The insecurities she had felt silly now that she could feel the way he held onto her so tightly but still with such a gentle hold. She wasn’t afraid of her nightmare while she was here with him. Now that she was with Ben she could pick out all the misfit pieces of the version her nightmare had created.

Surely Ben Solo would be her protector against the shadowman.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, wow, wow! This is only chapter one. I don’t know what sparked me to write this fanfic but this chapter nearly wrote itself. I hope you like it please let me know what you think.  
> I’m a big Reylo fan but I also pretty much ship rey with everyone so there will probably be a good mix though Reylo is going to be the main slow burn. We’re going to have a full harbor here!  
> This chapter is a beast but I think it all really just belongs I didn’t want to cut from one place to another I really want to outline the relationships. I have to say I love the mentor Ben angle though I do plan on having Ben take a nice dip in the dark side so you Kylo fans will get your piece too, may avoid the name though unless I find a good place for it to transition.  
> Also Rey’s music box plays the love theme from Romeo and Juliet by Nino Rota, if you look up the music box version you can hear it as I do. I actually have this as a music box and I think it fits Rey and Ben.


End file.
